


30 Days Of Ash And Gou

by VJuniorVasquez



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 29,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23798221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VJuniorVasquez/pseuds/VJuniorVasquez
Summary: No summary necessary, just one month of pure firstfriendshipping fluff!Day 30: Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow
Relationships: Gou/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Comments: 121
Kudos: 345
Collections: Firstfriend/Journeyshipping





	1. Day 1: Secret Ingredient

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to make this hiatus a little bit more tolerable, readers  
> So for the next 30 days, I'll be writing one-shots of at least 500 words, each and every day  
> Enjoy!

“Is it done?” Ash said, entering the kitchen

“Not yet” Gou simply replied

“And the secret ingredient?” Ash asked, looking at the bubbly stew in front of him

“I already added it, you’re never gonna figure out what it is” the other boy responded, stirring the contents of the pot with extreme delicacy. It was his turn to prepare dinner that night, and he wasn’t gonna screw it.

After two minutes (and at least five more “is it done yet?” from Ash), Gou took a spoon, tasted a bit of sauce and declared:

“All right! My grandma’s super-secret stew is done!”

Ash took another spoon and went directly for the pot, but his boyfriend slapped his hand, frowning:

“Wait until I serve it, Ash”

“But I want to eat already” the boy complained

“You’re not a wild Pokemon, now go sit on the table and wait like everyone else”

Ash turned around, pretending to be offended

A few minutes later, Gou finally came out of the kitchen, he put a plate in front of Koharu, and the girl said:

“You took longer than usual in there”

“Well, I usually don’t have someone watching every single one of my movements” Gou replied, shooting a glare to Ash

“I just wanted to make sure you followed the recipe!”

Gou didn’t replied and came back with plates for Professor Sakuragi, Reni and Kikuna. When he finally approached his boyfriend, Ash commented:

“You’re making me wait on purpose, aren’t you?”

Gou stick his tongue out and Ash smiled at him. It was impossible to be mad at the researcher from Vermillion City for more than five seconds.

The boy from Vermillion City stood in front of the table, waiting for the comments, Renji was the first one:

“Exquisite!” he said enthusiastically

“Delicious as always Gou” Kikuna added with a smile, and Gou made a little bow

Sakuragi ate his plate so fast that Gou considered that was a very good compliment in itself.

Her daughter ate the stew slowly, but it came to a point when she had to say what everyone was thinking:

“So, what’s the secret ingredient?”

“I’m not telling” Gou replied

“It can’t be that hard” the girl insisted “Let me guess, coriander?”

“Nope”

“Provencal?” Renji hypothesized

“Nope” Gou repeated

“Red Pepper?” Kikuna theorized

“You’re really far”

“It has to be paprika” Sakuragi said with conviction

Gou simply shook his head and everyone in the table stared at the only one who hadn’t made a comment so far.

“Aren’t you going to say anything, Ash?” the professor questioned

“I’m thinking” he quickly replied

“That’d be a first” Koharu said, chuckling

“There are too much things in the stew, but I’m pretty sure the secret ingredient is in the tomato sauce”

“You’re not getting another plate, Ash” his boyfriend replied

Ash ignored the comment and stood up from his chair, walking towards his boyfriend

“First of all, delicious Gou”

“Thanks Ash” the boy said, blushing a little

“I need to taste a bit ore”

“I told you, you won’t…”

Immediately, Ash interrupted Gou, taking him by the waist and kissing him, with force, with intensity and for several seconds

“You have your own room; stop doing that in front of all of us!” Koharu complained and her father laughed

Still, the couple kept kissing for a few more seconds, Ash let go of his boyfriend and declared:

“Your lips are sweeter than usual”

Gou was blushing so hard that he couldn’t respond

“His lips are sweeter than usual” Ash repeated, looking at his friends

“And?…” Renji asked

“Sugar, that’s the secret ingredient!”

“You kissed me just to figure out my secret ingredient, Ash Ketchum?”

The boy looked at him with a huge grin and Gou huffed… It was impossible to be mad at the Pallet Town trainer for more than five seconds.


	2. Day 2: Colors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feeling great about the whole "daily fic" idea  
> Enjoy everyone!

On a rainy day, a few months after they met each other, Ash and Gou were looking out of the window of their room.

“I wish we could go outside” Ash said out of the blue

“It’s pouring Ash!” his friend replied “Why would you want that?”

“You never ran under the rain?” Ash countered

“Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s fun, of course!”

“I guess I never learned to have fun” Gou confessed

Ash remained silent, so the other boy continued:

“I spent my whole childhood looking at a screen, searching for Mew, not even sure if I would find it someday”

“You never had friends to play with?”

“No one except for Koharu and you know very well she’s not exactly the playful type. My life was mostly black and white…”

“What does that mean?”

“Either I was happy because I discovered something, or sad because I didn’t discover anything, there was really nothing in the middle, until I met you, of course”

“Me?”

“Yes!” Gou nodded, and a little blush appeared on his face “You taught me how to be excited, how to expect the unexpected, how to have multiple goals at the same time, you taught me to take the future into my own hands”

“I never knew I meant that much to you” Ash said, looking away

Maybe this wasn’t going to be the day when Gou confessed all his feelings for the Pallet Town trainer, but at the very least, he’d say something very important to him:

“You’ve filled my life with color, Ash” he said with a smile

The boys stared in silence for a few seconds, looking how the rain clashed against the window…

“I’m sure I didn’t do the same for you, but…”

Ash noticed the insecurity in his friend’s voice and decided to interrupt him

“What makes you say that?”

“You’ve met so many people and travel so far and wide across the world; your life must be already filled with colors!”

“Well, you brought one color to my life, one I never noticed before”

“Really? Which one?” Gou questioned

“That one!” Ash said, pointing at the boy’s face “That shade of pink that appears on your face every time you look at me or you smile”

Gou blushed even harder at that comment, it was impossible not to when ash was complimenting him like that

“Sometimes the pink turns red, like right now” Ash explained “That’s also cute”

“C-cute? W-why w-would you say t-that?” Gou stuttered

“Because it’s cute!” Ash replied with conviction

A few seconds later, Gou noticed his crush was touching his shoulder

“Let’s go running under the rain” he offered, extending his hand “Let’s go fill your life with even more colors”

Gou took his hand almost immediately

The very next day, Sakuragi forced his two researchers to stay at their bedroom, since both of them caught a cold

Gou sneezed and after a few seconds, Ash’s face appeared from the side of his bed

“You should be resting” Gou ordered

“I’ll be back to the bed in a moment” Ash explained, scratching his nose “I just want to check something”

He approached his friend’s face and Gou’s heart stopped, was he trying to kiss him or something like that?

Instead, Ash simply nodded and returned to his bed

“What was that?” Gou asked

“I told you, I wanted to check something, and I confirmed it!” Ash said, between coughs

“What would that be?”

“Your red nose it’s also a cute color”

Even if he knew Ash could not see him, Gou covered his face with the sheets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're lucky enough, you might be getting the sequel to one of my most heartbreaking one-shots today!  
> See you... whenever I see you, everyone!


	3. Day 3: Distractions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm up to here *pointing at my own nose* of work, but I have time for a quick fic!  
> Enjoy it everyone

“Pikachu, use thunderbolt on the water!” Ash shouted

The electric Pokemon jumped as high as he could and aimed his attack at the pool in front of him

“Barraskewda, dodge it!” Nessa ordered

The Skewer Pokemon jumped out of the pool, evading Pikachu’s attack with ease. Ash stared at it and frowned.

“It won’t work Ash!” Nessa said with a smile “So stop trying!”

The trainer knew he had repeated the same strategy twice in the last three minutes, but he was running out of ideas and Barraskewda proved to be a formidable and very fast opponent. Nessa stared at the boy, the smile never leaving her face. She admired the determination of the Kantonian, after all, the boy managed to defeat her Dreadnaw in their first match using his Lucario, who ended up losing to Barraskewda.

Nessa was counting on her Pokemon to defeat Pikachu too.

Both challengers were feeling relaxed, happy with the fact that only one person was currently watching their battle.

Gou tried to not make a sound; he knew this wasn’t the first time both of them battled, but Ash kept coming back to this Gym over and over again, Nessa understood him in a way very few people could, and Gou knew there was a very special reason for that.

However, that reason was currently absent…

“Pikachu, use electroweb!” Ash shouted and while Barraskewda dodged the attack once more, Gou found himself lost in the sound of his boyfriend’s voice

“Did I make it in time?” A female voice asked behind Gou, interrupting his thoughts, he turned around and smiled at the familiar face.

“She’s still battling Ash, don’t worry Sonia” Gou said, inviting the Professor to seat beside him

“I promised Nessa I’d be here to watch her battle” the woman with peach-colored hair said

“Both of them are using their last Pokemon” Gou explained “You almost missed her”

Before Gou could say something else, the woman shouted:

“Nessa! I’m here! I made it!”

The Gym Leader froze at the mention of her name and turned directly to Sonia

“Hi!” she simply replied, and Ash couldn’t help but notice the softness of her voice and the blush that appeared in her face, the Pallet Town trainer became a sort of specialist in those things after dating Gou for a few months

“Good luck!” Sonia insisted, blowing her a kiss, Nessa turned away, clearly embarrassed

Ash took a look at the battlefield. Barraskewda was with his head outside of the water, clearly awaiting the woman’s next instruction. It would be so easy for him to order Pikachu to attack the Pokemon, securing his victory.

Instead, he chose a different tactic:

“Pikachu, don’t do anything!”

Nessa mistook the trainer’s sentence for a command and shouted:

“Don’t do that! My girlfriend distracted me!”

“I didn’t do anything!” Ash said, raising his arms and laughing at her

Realizing Pikachu didn’t move, Nessa insisted:

“I was distracted”

“By your girlfriend” Ash teased

“Shut up, Barraskewda, use Ice Beam!”

“Dodge it, Pikachu!”

Resting on the chair and watching the battle, Sonia commented:

“I think I gave your boyfriend an unfair advantage”

Nessa was still blushing and Gou was sure she lost composure for a second, so he offered:

“I could make things even if you want”

“Would you do that Gou?” Sonia asked with a smile, knowing what he meant “Won’t he be mad at you?”

“Relax, it’s not an official Championship battle, besides, Ash likes to battle fair, and this is fair…” Gou concealed, and getting up from his seat, shouted:

“Hey Ash! Do that thing with your arm!”

“What thing?” Ash asked, looking at his boyfriend

“That thing you do, flexing your arm when you command Pikachu” waiting a second, he added “You look so handsome when you do that!”

“What?” Ash said, freezing in place and blushing hard

“Barraskewda, wait a second” Nessa commented, chuckling “Give the boy some time to focus”

“I’m fine, let’s keep going” Ash said, looking at Gou

“Stop watching your boyfriend for five seconds and I’ll believe that, Ash” the Gym Leader teased

“See?” Gou said, looking at a smiling Sonia “Now they’re even”

Both of them laughed and continued to watch the battle…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking ideas (and comments, reviews, and anything you want) for the next days!  
> See you tomorrow!


	4. Day 4: You're Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might hate me for this.  
> Still, try to enjoy it

“Sorry” Gou excused himself “I know we said six o’ clock on Friday, I almost didn’t make it”

“It’s okay Gou” Ash replied, smiling at him “How are you today?”

“Fine, I guess. Training with Cinderace, researching in Wela Volcano” the teen made a pause and decided to add “Missing you”

“I miss you too” Ash commented

Both boys remained silent, looking at the sun setting in the Alola Region horizon. They’ve been doing this for a few months now, and Ash let out his insecurities when he said:

“After all this time, aren’t you tired of all of this?”

Gou raised an eyebrow

“Why would I?”

“Well…”

“Let me stop you right there” Gou interrupted him, placing a finger in front of his mouth, Ash felt a shock, even if his boyfriend didn’t touch him, and shut up “I’d never got tired of you, you are my best friend, and I love every single one of the moments we shared”

“Your best friend, really?” Ash teased

“Shut up, you goof”

“Come on, say it”

“What?”

“You know what” Ash insisted “Go on, say it!”

“Fine… I love you, Ash Ketchum”

“How much?”

“To the ultra space and beyond” Gou confirmed “Are you happy now?”

“Of course… I love you too, Gou”

The couple fell into another silent moment and once again, Ash decided to break it

“You remember Opal?”

“The Galarian Gym Leader?”

Ash nodded and continued:

“She came to stay here yesterday. When she saw me, she said she was truly happy to see a familiar face”

Gou didn’t reply

“It was her time, I guess” Ash added

Gou remained silent; Ash put a hand in front of his face and snapped his fingers

“Earth to Gou! Where are you?”

“Still here” the boy responded “Still thinking about you, still trying to figure out how to…”

“Please stop, you can’t change things Gou”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to try”

“But it’s fine… I’m fine being here, please don’t worry about me”

“You could be fine there, but I’m not fine with you _not being here_ ” Gou said, letting go of a few tears. Ash reached for him, but stopped just a few centimeters away from Gou’s cheeks

Gou covered his face with his hands, without stopping the sobs coming out from his mouth, he commented:

“I want to be with you”

“You could but…”

“But I can’t” Gou interrupted “What would _they_ do without the two of us?”

“They can’t lose me too” Gou added, and if Ash had a heart, it would surely have broken by his boyfriend’s loyalty. He put a hand on Gou’s knee, and the other boy shuddered

“Don’t do that” the Vermillion City native pleaded “You know I can’t stand when you do that”

“I need to feel you every once in a while” Ash argued

Gou wiped his face and looked at his boyfriend

“You think I don’t feel you?”

“What?”

“You think I don’t feel you watching over me every night when I sleep? Shouting every time I capture a new Pokemon? Hugging Gengar and giving him messages when no one can see you? Trying to encourage Pikachu to climb into my shoulder like he used to do with you?”

“I want him to do that, it’d mean a lot” Ash confirmed

“He hasn’t do it yet, but I don’t lose hope”

Ash didn’t know what else to say, so Gou touched his cheek and completed:

“You’re always around, and it hurts me so much not being able to touch your face like this every single day, every single night…”

“I love you, Gou” Ash confessed, starting to cry

The other boy kissed Ash on the lips, closing his eyes. After a few seconds, he let go, noticing how Ash’s figure started to fade away and said:

“I love you too and no matter what will happen, I’ll find a way to bring you back, I promise”

“Just don’t do anything stupid”

“Now that’s a promise I can’t make”

“Gou… Remember I’m watching you”

“Always, I know”

Ash’s figure started to blink out of existence, Gou held both of his hands, unable to say goodbye…

“Oh, and there’s one more thing” the deceased trainer said sternly

“Isn’t it always?” Gou replied

“Six o’ clock, next Friday. Don’t be late again”

“Seriously?” Gou replied “You’re gonna complain about _me_ being late?”

“Six months since I’m gone and that joke still cracks me up” The trainer from Pallet Town said with a chuckle, fading away between Tapu Fini’s mist

Gou opened his eyes and started to make his way out of the forest, not without thanking the Mythical Pokemon first

“Will I see you next week at the same time?” the boy asked

“Tapu!” the entity replied, confirming his request

Gou walked for a few minutes until he spotted Pikachu and Cinderace sleeping between some flowers, he approached them and whispered:

“Hey guys, ready to go?”

Both Pokemon woke up and nodded, walking alongside him

“Thanks for letting me visit him alone this time”

“Cin!” his most faithful partner said

“Pika!” the electric Pokemon replied, jumping to Gou’s shoulder and nuzzling his cheek

“Oh, so you can feel him too?” Gou asked, remembering what he told Ash just minutes ago

“Pi… Pika” the creature confirmed, with a hint of sadness in his voice

“Don’t worry Pikachu”

Gou kept walking, knowing that not only Pikachu and Cinderace were by his side. Another presence was with him, always there, always happy, always hoping to see him again

_“We’re gonna bring him back”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're gonna insult me, speak now or forever hold your peace!  
> I'll see you tomorrow


	5. Day 5: Falling Into A Trap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M STRESSING OUT, HOW THE HELL DO I HAVE MORE WORK THAN BEFORE THE FREAKING LOCKDOWN???  
> Deep breaths Junior, deep breaths...  
> Enjoy everyone!

Ash checked the piece of paper with the coordinates for the umpteenth time and kept running, his faithful Pikachu rushing to his side, both of them agitated, tired, scared at the prospect of what could happen when they reached their destination.

Finally, both of them stopped at a clearing and Ash shouted:

“Where are you?”

Nobody replied and the trainer started to get desperate

“We’re here! Just come out!”

An evil laugh echoed between the trees and Ash knew what was about to happen

“I swear!” he screamed at the top of his lungs “If he’s harmed in any way…”

“Relax, brat boy” James declared, revealing himself from atop of a tree and pulling a rope. In an instant, Gou appeared, tied and gagged, dangerously dangling from the rope several feet above the air.

“What about…”

“He’s here too” Jessie confirmed, pulling another rope and showing him an equally tied (and unconscious) Raboot

“You promised me you wouldn’t attack him” Ash said, letting out a few tears of frustration “When you found out about the two of us, you swore you wouldn’t touch him”

“We’re villains, kid” James said with a smirk “You can’t trust us at all”

Ash sat on the grass and looking down, asked:

“What do you want?”

Meowth jumped from seemingly nowhere and stood in front of the trainer with an evil smile:

“You know exactly what we want” he said, looking at Pikachu

“And don’t try anything!” James completed “Or our hands will slip and they…”

“No!” Ash interrupted, quickly standing up

“So…” Meowth said defiantly

Ash felt his whole body trembling, he looked at his boyfriend, his face filled with tears, shaking his head violently, trying to convince him to not do what he was about to do.

Gou tried to shout something and by some magical connection Ash shared with him, the Pallet Town trainer understood him.

“It’s not your fault, Gou” the raven haired said “You couldn’t possibly know what was gonna happen”

“It was so easy to caught them” Jessie teased, interrupting the moment

“I never imagined you would do something so… despicable” Ash said, anger evident in his voice

“Again, brat boy!” James shouted “We’re the villains!”

The boy kneeled down and stared at Pikachu. The determination in his Pokemon’s eyes confirmed his intentions. Still, Ash caressed his little face and whispered:

“Pikachu, I…”

“Pika” the electric Pokemon interrupted, nodding at him

“Fine” Ash exclaimed, looking back at Meowth “You won”

“We did?” Jessie exclaimed

“Take Pikachu” Ash confirmed

“No back up plans?” James asked “Not a last minute attack to surprise us?”

“I’ve got nothing” Ash confirmed, raising his arms

“So you surrender?” Meowth insisted “You care more about your boyfriend than your Pokemon?”

“It’s not that…”

“Then what is it?” James demanded

“If you take Pikachu away, then I’ll have a reason to search for you, to get my buddy back and to beat you like you deserve…”

He made a pause and gulped, the tears flowing to his face again

“But if you let them drop now, if Raboot falls, then Gou will hate me forever, and if he’s the one falling… I hate to admit it, but if Gou falls… then I wouldn’t have a reason to keep going”

Suddenly, the whole place went silent; the only sound heard was Ash’s sobbing

“Go with them, Pikachu” Ash ordered

James quickly let Gou loose, helping him to gain foot on the same branch he was and taking the gag out of his mouth.

“See? I told you!” The Vermillion City boy shouted

“What?” Ash asked, blinking

“Show’s over” Jessie said, shaking up Raboot, who opened his eyes quickly and burned the rope, making a twist and landing in the grass safely

“What?” Ash repeated

“We found your boyfriend catching Pokemon a few hours ago” Meowth explained “When we were about to fight, he said something… peculiar”

Ash raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding the situation. James and Gou descended from the tree, and the first one explained:

“He said that we should think twice before capturing him or his Pokemon, because you’d risk everything to save both of them”

“Naturally, we had to test that theory” Jessie finished, hanging Gou a couple of bills “20 bucks, all yours kid”

“YOU MADE A BET WITH THEM?” Ash shouted directly at his boyfriend

“He finally got it” Meowth said, chuckling

“It was their idea!” Gou defended himself

“You made me think I’d lose Pikachu!” Ash shouted, and immediately added “You made Pikachu think he was gonna lose me!”

“Well, that’s not right” Jessie said, playfully slapping Raboot’s ears “I saw you winking at the rat as soon as they got here, you know?”

“So you knew this was a trick too, Pikachu?” Ash asked

“Pika…” the electric Pokemon said, and the water drop running down his face confirmed Ash’s theory

“Well, time to go before the brat boy decides to thunder shock us to smithereens” James said, and the whole group ran away

Ash covered his face with his hat, ashamed, Gou approached him and said:

“Would a kiss make you feel better?”

Ash didn’t reply, so Gou grabbed his chin and placed a quick kiss on his lips, that wasn’t enough for the trainer, who frantically throw himself at Gou’s arms, kissing him with full force. Both looked at each other, Ash was frowning, but Gou was smiling, the Pallet Town native decided to speak first:

“I hate you”

“Nah, you don’t”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments or ideas? Suggestion box is always open!  
> See you tomorrow everyone!


	6. Day 6: Double Entendres

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to the AshxGou server on Discord!  
> I DON'T REGRET WRITING THIS  
> Enjoy everyone!

Gou was resting on his favorite place in the world: His husband’s chest, with a couple of strong, muscular arms wrapped around his body. He loved that contact so much, and he was so happy that Ash was always willing to let him sleep like that.

Ash decided to sleep shirtless that night, which made things for him even better, since he was able to hear with more clarity the beating of his heart, the reminder that after so many years, they were still together.

Ash’s left hand started to explore around and Gou let out a little laugh, which immediately turned into a soft moan as soon as the Champion started to draw circles on his back.

“You sound like a Persian sometimes, did you know that?” Ash asked

“Shut up, you idiot” Gou quickly replied

He moved a little and put his head on Ash’s shoulder, filling his face with kiss after kiss, the raven haired let out a giggle at the sensation and Gou smirked

“Who’s the Persian now?” he countered, returning to Ash’s chest

A few seconds passed, and the Vermillion City man protested:

“I didn’t say you could stop, you know”

Ash started to caress the other man’s back again, not without commenting:

“Sorry...” he made a pause on purpose and added “Skitty”

“Don’t tease me or I’ll hurt you, Ash”

“Coming from you, I’d probably enjoy it” Ash replied and Gou choked

Ash laughed at his husband’s reaction, he was unable to stand those comments, even after so much time together. The raven haired man put a hand through the other man’s hair and touched it softly…

“Want to try it?” he asked, resuming the conversation and Gou frowned

“I’m going to beat you into the ground”

“You already did that in Santalune Forest last week, remember?”

“You think I’m playing, Mr. Ketchum?”

“Of course not”

Another pause

“Not in the way we played last time we were on Sakuragi Institute” Ash quickly commented with a grin

“Keep saying those things and I’ll make you lose consciousness” Gou insisted, fully aware that even his ears were red at this point

“Maybe when we were 18, but not anymore”

“Stop it!”

“You were insatiable back then! Well… You still are”

Gou shifted his position once again and sat atop Ash, he grabbed his face and looked at him sternly

“I said, stop it”

“You’re kinda proving my point, you know?”

“Stop with the double entendres!”

“I don’t know what that is” Ash said and Gou deadpanned “But I know you’re the one who usually asks for doubles”

Gou launched at Ash’s face and pressed his lips against his own, Ash melted at the contact and his whole body started to sweat as soon as Gou started to kiss his neck, using his hands to ruffle his hair in the process. He stopped for a second and looked at him:

“No. More. Teasing.”

“Whatever you say, Cowboy”

“Cut it off”

“You know, Cowboy, because of your riding skills…”

“I got it, now stop or I’ll fucking destroy you”

Ash remained silent, but raised both of his eyebrows, and Gou lost it again

“ASH KETCHUM!!!”

“Cinder!”

Gou turned around, forgetting that his and Ash’s longtime partner Pokemon were sleeping on a couch in the same bedroom.

“Ash and I need a little privacy” Gou sheepishly explained

Cinderace rolled his eyes; this was the third time this week! Huffing, he got up and cradled a still sleeping Pikachu in his arms. Going to the nightstand, he grabbed Ash and Gou’s Rotomphones, remembering the scandal that ensued the night his human partner forgot them on the side of the bed. Finally, he opened the bedroom door and got out.

“Thank you” Gou said, closing the door “Now Ash… What you were saying before about me being a rider?”

Ash chuckled and Gou approached him. At the last moment, he remembered something else; he made his way back to the door and locked it.

“We don’t want any witnesses tonight…” he said

*click*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Gou was talking about you, dear readers xD  
> Any comments or ideas? There's a box down there for you!  
> See you tomorrow!


	7. Day 7: Wish Fulfillment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One week already, 23 days left!  
> Enjoy this one, readers!

Ash and Gou smiled as soon as they saw Jirachi was safe and sound, free from the influence of Team Rocket’s latest scheme. The Pokemon flew a few feet up in the air and returned the smile.

Suddenly, both boys heard a voice in their heads

_“Thank you very much, both of you. As a way to show my gratitude, I’ll grant any wish you desire”_

The couple looked at each other, both of their faces filled with excitement.

“Only one wish…” Ash said

“What we should ask for?” Gou questioned

 _“One wish for each of you”_ Jirachi clarified _“And do not worry about them”_ It added, looking at Pikachu and Raboot _“I’ll already granted their wishes”_

Suddenly, a bottle of ketchup appeared in front of Pikachu and an apple in front of Raboot.

“Those wishes seem simple” Gou commented to no one in particular

 _“There’s nothing simple about a bottomless ketchup bottle and a regenerative apple”_ Jirachi noted and Gou raised an eyebrow

“Which means I could ask for anything” Gou said, and the Mythical Pokemon nodded

The Vermillion City native hugged his boyfriend and turned around, whispering something to him and hoping Jirachi wouldn’t hear him:

“Ash… What if I ask for the wrong wish?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I could ask for World Peace”

“Sounds nice” Ash concealed

“But Jirachi might misunderstand me and who knows, it maybe will erase of life on the planet!”

“Now that doesn’t sound so nice"

Gou quickly nodded, and Ash continued

"You could ask for a lot of money to make more researches”

“Could it be” Gou pondered “But money has to come from somewhere, Jirachi might make disappear money from a bank vault and they would trace the money to me!”

“You’re getting paranoid” Ash warned

“Oh! I could ask Jirachi to eliminate all traces of paranoia from me!”

“Are you kidding me?” Ash protested “I don’t want that!”

“Why not?”

“That means you would be different, and I don’t want a different Gou, I want you, I like everything about you!”

Gou looked at his grinning boyfriend and kissed his cheek

“That’s one of the most beautiful things you ever said to me”

“Still, no changing you in any way”

“Fine” Gou accepted “Although I always wanted to be a little more athletic or strong…”

“I know, but you can’t ask that” Ash argued “Or Jirachi might turn you into a powerful Pokemon”

“I could ask for you to never lose a Pokemon battle again” Gou commented

“I want to be the very best” Ash said with a nod “But not by cheating”

“Right, right…”

The couple stayed in silence for a few seconds, until Ash had an idea

“Jirachi!” He shouted “I wish Gou knew what wish he should ask for!”

“Wait!” his boyfriend complained “Ash, don’t waste your wish on me!”

 _“Conceeded!”_ Jirachi announced, and Gou’s mind filled with a million different ideas, until it stopped right on one. Still, before asking for his wish, he looked at Ash and said:

“Why would you throw away your wish like that?”

“I didn’t throw it away” Ash replied, taking Gou’s hand “I really wished I could help you somehow”

“You dummy…”

“So?” Ash asked with excitement “What will you wish for?”

“The thing is…” Gou confessed “I have a faithful partner in Raboot, a lot of friends waiting for me at the Park, a goal that keeps my mind focused and a career that makes me travel the world and discovers all of its wonders each and every day”

Ash smiled and Gou continued, taking his hand:

“And I have you Ash, a guy that loves me for who I am and doesn’t try to change me in any way, someone who’s willing to sacrifice his happiness for my own, someone who loves me so much that every morning I wake up by his side feels like a wish came true. I don’t want, nor need anything else…”

 _“A wise choice...”_ Jirachi said, floating away and preparing itself for its 1000 years slumber. 

“… Except for a Master Ball!” Gou shouted, while both Ash and Jirachi smirked

 _"I knew you wouldn't resist it"_ Jirachi commented on Gou's mind _"Conceeded, of course"_

The object appeared instantly on the boy's hand and he gave his boyfriend a kiss, adding:

“Now, I can’t wish for anything else in my life…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wish I had more time to write Satogou fics...  
> See you tomorrow everyone!


	8. Day 8: A Silent Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Q: Can you make a story without any dialogue at all?  
> A: Of course I can!

Gou turned around in his bed, annoyed. He saw how Raboot was happily sleeping by his side, the fire type Pokemon was holding his hand and the boy let out a chuckle as soon as he started to chew his fingers in his sleep, probably dreaming about carrots or apples.

The boy closed his eyes and focused on the sounds around him.

That extremely peaceful and slow sound was Raboot’s breathing.

That little rustle was Pikachu, probably kicking around.

That loud, strange and obnoxious noise was Ash snoring.

Perfect.

Very patiently and slowly, Gou retired his hand and broke free from Raboot’s grasp. He got out of the bed and step by step, made his way to the floor.

He stared at the sleeping figure of his crush, watching the moonlight dancing around his smiling face, wondering if he was dreaming about beating Champion Leon, battling a Legendary Pokemon or maybe, just maybe…

Maybe he was smiling because he was dreaming about him? Maybe Gou filled his mind as much as he filled Gou’s own?

Gou took a step forwards, approaching his crush and watching him with even more intensity. He blinked twice, thinking that maybe this wasn’t right, that he was becoming a creep, like Koharu once said.

Was there a social convention, or maybe a non-written rule, that specified one couldn’t stare at the love of his life for so long, in the middle of the night, without saying a word? Was he being too weird? Invading the trainer’s personal space far too much?

He never had such a good friend like him, never wanted to be around someone for so long, never needed a person by his side like he knew he needed Ash…

So yeah, probably doing this was creepy and weird, but he couldn’t help himself, he was unable to do this when they were awake, at least not without blushing profusely.

The last time that happened, Gou blushed so much that Ash insisted he was getting sick. The Vermillion City boy had to go to bed three hours earlier, just to pretend he was resting, recovering from a non-existent fever.

Gou came back to the present and looked at Ash again. Even below the covers, he could notice the trainer’s chest going up and down, Pikachu was resting over it, a smile plastered on his yellow face and Gou bit his lip, realizing he was jealous of the electric creature.

Then he focused on another characteristic of Ash’s face. His cute cheek marks (yes, he could say to himself they were cute, and no one would ever know), those little z-shaped marks were so strange, so unique. After months of falling for Ash, Gou was sure he couldn’t imagine his face without those marks; if suddenly they were gone then he was pretty sure Ash would be gone in a way, too. He was perfect just the way he was, and Gou wouldn’t even change a thing about him.

Then there was his hair. Ash’s hair was like an extension of his own mind: An intertwined, complicated to understand labyrinth. So black, tangled, mysterious and…

Beautiful, just like Ash.

Gou extended an arm towards Ash’s hair. Just a little touch, that was it, just a tiny little touch and he promised himself he would stop being such a creep, he would return to his bed and never crawl down, not another night, not anymore…

Just when he was about to touch it, Ash opened his eyes.

The Vermillion City boy stood there, frozen in place. He had been discovered and there was no way to explain what he was doing without sounding like the weirdo he knew he was. Ash stared at his face, then at his hand, still in the air and then back at his face. Gou’s eyes twitched, he was about to break down, he needed Ash to say something, to get mad at him, to shout at him, to…

Instead, the Pallet Town native simply reached for him, quickly connecting with his hand and wrapping his fingers around it. Gou tried to back down, but Ash had a different idea.

He used his strength to pull Gou towards him in a flash; the boy tripped over Ash’s bunk and fell on top of him. He quickly got up, visibly embarrassed and tried to make his way back to his own bed.

Ash simply wouldn’t accept that: He grabbed Gou again, forcing him to lay down at his right. Pikachu opened his eyes and jumped away and Gou understood what the trainer wanted. He lay down right next to his crush and Ash covered his body with the sheets, effectively trapping him in his bed.

Gou smiled at him, still waiting for the trainer to say something, but Ash simply hugged him and took his chin, moving his head and placing it right on top of his chest.

Gou gulped, aware that somehow, Ash knew what he wanted, and amazingly, he seemed to want exactly the same.

This was too good to be true, he was definitely dreaming, he was so head over heels for Ash that he surely was imagining all of this. At any given moment, he would wake up, with only Raboot sleeping by his side…

When morning came and Gou felt a hand rubbing his back, he smiled…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s freezing outside and my mind is completely numb, so I’m sorry if this wasn’t the most original idea of all…See you tomorrow, everyone.


	9. Day 9: Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this quick interview, from Alola and to all the world, readers!

“Where did you get that?” Gou asked, pointing at the tub of popcorn in Kikuna’s hands

“Koharu” the lady simply replied and Renji entered the room with an equally filled tub, followed by the girl

“Dad, hurry up!” she said and Sakuragi ran behind her with a huge grin

“This isn’t really necessary” Gou complained

“Oh, believe me, it totally is”

“You haven’t let me watch the interview since they broadcasted it a few hours ago, why should I watch it with the rest of you and not alone?” the boy protested

“Because it’ll be more surprising this way” Koharu replied with a sly smile, playing a video on the TV, most specifically, a recording of an interview in the Alola Region, made a few hours ago…

“Here I am” the reporter said, smiling at the camera “With the first Champion of the Alola Region, claiming the title once again after this year’s competition. What are your thoughts, Mr. Ketchum?”

The boy waved at the camera and commented with a grin:

“Hey everybody! I won again!”

Koharu let out a little laugh

“He’s so dumb” she said and Gou didn’t reply

“You did won” the reporter agreed “And with the same Pokemon team that you used last year, that’s quite impressive”

“I wouldn’t choose anyone else” Ash replied and his expression changed for a second when he added “And I don’t use them, they are my Alolan family, not a tool…”

The reporter made a little bow, apologizing

“Of course, as a matter of fact, many people speculate that your connection to the Pokemon is one of the keys of your success, what would you say about that?”

Ash scratched his cheek, visibly embarrassed, and Gou remembered the call they had a few days ago, when Ash said that he never had an interview. Gou simply suggested that it was a normal conversation, so he should be his usual self.

“I guess anyone can make a connection with their Pokemon, if they are willing to do so, you just have to know what your Pokemon wants, once you discover it, the rest is easy!”

As a matter to prove his point, Pikachu jumped out of nowhere right to Ash’s shoulder and the trainer smiled at him, scratching his chin. Gou and the rest of the researchers let out an “awww” with even Koharu joining them.

“Well, nothing you’ve done so far seems easy” the Reporter continued “You didn’t only won the Alolan Championship twice, you seem to have a surprising record back in your home region of Kanto, not only beating the Leaders of the Orange Archipelago, but also battling and defeating every single Brain in the Battle Frontier Challenge!”

“Oh!” Ash said, looking away with a smile “I guess that part of my past was…” he stopped for a second, struggling to find the words “really cool”

“So, what’s on your future, Ash?”

“After a whole year of battling, I’m still trying to reach the Top 8 in the World Championship, and I think I’m really close!”

“Always reaching to new heights, right Ash?” the Reporter asked and Ash simply nodded “Anything else you want to say before we finish?”

“I want to thank to Professor Sakuragi and his assistants, Renji and Kikuna, for supporting me this last year. I know they had a lot to do these last few days, which is why they had to stay in Kanto, and I’m also thankful they let me come back to participate in the League Tournament!”

“Well, that’s a good promotion for the Institute” Sakuragi said with a smile, and everyone agreed

“Is not over yet” Koharu warned

“And I also want to thank my Researcher Fellow Gou! He’s a great person and a great friend…”

The boy from Vermillion City smiled at the comment; he was going to say aloud how cute Ash sounded on TV, when the trainer added something else

“… And a great boyfriend too!”

Gou went completely still, and every pair of eyes in the room stared at his red face. Ash, however, was far from finishing:

“I know I made a lot of friends, I fought a lot of battles, and I won a lot of things, but nothing and no one makes me feel as happy as Gou does!”

“Sounds like that boy captured your heart, huh?” the Reporter questioned

“Yes!” Ash said his enthusiasm evident in the tone of his voice “Gou’s kisses feel better than any Trophy or Badge!”

“WHY THE FUCK WOULD HE SAY THAT?” Gou shouted, his face impossibly red at this point

“Language!” Sakuragi chastised, and his daughter burst out laughing

“There you have it” the Reporter concluded with a smile “Live for the Alola Region and the world, the Cham…”

“Call from Ash! Call from Ash!” Gou’s Rotomphone interrupted and the boy got up, turning off the TV and answering:

“Hey Ash…” he tried to walk away from his colleagues (and especially from Koharu’s stare) but to his dismay, his embarrassment was such that his feet didn’t respond

“Did you watch the interview?”

“I just did actually”

“So… How did I do it?” Ash questioned

“Why did you say I was your boyfriend?” Gou immediately countered

“Because I like being your boyfriend” Ash honestly replied “And I want everyone to know how happy you make me”

For a moment, none of the two lovers say anything else and Ash decided to ask

“Was that wrong?”

“Are you kidding me Ash?” Gou replied

The boy from Vermillion City wiped the tears from his face, unable to believe that he had a boyfriend who could express his love for him in television, for the entire planet, without even sweating.

“That was perfect” Gou finished

And even if he knew Ash couldn’t see him (and everyone in the living room could), Gou kissed his phone, eager to do the same to his boyfriend’s lips as soon as he returned to the Institute…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have an idea? A suggestion? A challenge?  
> There are still 21 days left readers, so don't be shy and hit me with your best shots, all ideas will be taken in consideration!  
> See you tomorrow!


	10. Day 10: A Knot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you, yes you! The one who's reading this! Catch this object and throw it to Gou, he's gonna need it!  
> *Throws you a Destiny Knot*

Gou was crouching looking for something on his backpack when Ash entered their shared bedroom, ready to go to sleep. The boy got up with a jump, closing his hands over a small item.

“Was that on your hand?” Ash asked

Gou immediately hid the red object from his crush’s view and said with a smile:

“Nothing”

“Oh! Come on, let me see!” the Pallet Town boy insisted

“Ash, it’s nothing, I swear”

“Then if it’s nothing, you just let me see it” the boy argued

“It’s nothing, really” Gou insisted, trying to put a serious face…

And failing miserably, a few seconds later, he started to laugh and Ash imitated him, the raven haired stopped for a second and looked at him, asking:

“What are you laughing about?”

“You” the boy simply replied

“Why me?” the boy questioned

“You just make me laugh” Gou confessed, blushing and looking away

Taking advantage of Gou’s distraction, Ash sneaked behind his back and snatched the mysterious object from his hands

“Hey!” Gou protested “Give me that back!”

But Ash didn’t reply, mesmerized by the object’s beauty.

“Why do you have this?” he asked

“It was a gift…” Gou quickly replied “For Raboot” he added, and Ash immediately noticed he was lying

Ash stared at the Destiny Knot for a few more seconds, and started to pass it around from one hand to the other.

“This isn’t for Raboot” he teased, but Gou remained silent

“Is there any special reason why do you have this?”Ash asked, and Gou decided to explain

“I was just trying to test a theory”

“You know I’m not good understanding things” Ash replied, and Gou surprised by the boy’s ability to recognize his own defect “So go on…”

“Well” Gou continued, nervously intertwining his own fingers “You know how if a Pokemon holds this knot in battle and is infatuated, then its foe does too?”

“What’s infatuated?” Ash questioned and Gou gulped

“F-falling in- in l-love, that’s what it means” the Vermillion City boy managed to reply

“Oh, I see” Ash simply commented, resuming the original conversation, he added “Yeah, I know one or two things about those Destiny Knots, what’s so special about this one?”

“Like I said, nothing special, but for a moment I thought…”

Gou stared at Ash’s face, his eyes glimmering with excitement, his smile always noticeable, and his denseness always evident. He really didn’t understand what he was pretending or what?

“What did you think?” Ash asked, interrupting his train of thought

“Maybe this thing works on humans, too” Gou stated and looked at his crush’s face…

 _Please tell me you feel the same for me, please tell me you also love me as much as I love you, please, or at the very least give me a chance, Ash…_ Gou thought, intently staring at his crush’s eyes and holding the Destiny Knot tightly against his chest.

However, Ash didn’t seem to react to Gou’s insinuation, after a few seconds, he broke the silence, asking:

“So, does it work on humans too?”

Gou’s eye twitched, of course the amazing Ash Ketchum would never fall for him…

“Obviously it didn’t” he said, tossing the knot to the ground and climbing to his bed “Good night, Ash”

“Good night, Gou”

When morning came, Gou had already forgot about what happened last night, so his surprise was evident when he got up and, descending to the ground, found Ash and Pikachu playing with the Destiny Knot

“Morning” he said, trying to sound as cold as he could

“Good morning Gou!” Ash replied and the way he smiled at him melted his heart as usual

Out of nowhere, Ash got up and approached Gou. Before the other boy could react, the trainer kissed him on the lips. Gou pushed Ash away, raising an eyebrow and asking

“What was that?”

“A kiss” Ash replied

“I know that, you idiot” Gou countered “What I meant is _why_ you kissed me?”

Ash tossed the Destiny Knot in the air, quickly catching it and throwing it to Gou’s hands

“I was just trying to test a theory” Ash said, copying the exact same words Gou used the night before, and then exiting the room with a smile

Gou felt a shock of happiness through his entire body. He looked at Pikachu and questioned:

“So… He loves me back?”

“Of course I love you back, you silly!” Ash said, reappearing and hugging him from behind

“And you don’t need a Destiny Knot to know that” he concluded, kissing Gou’s cheek and making him blush furiously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And scene!  
> See you tomorrow, my dear readers!And thanks to Enometr for such a great idea!


	11. Day 11: Tombstone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for a moment, my dear readers, as I use this Fic for a sort of Elegy...

“You don’t have to be here” Gou said to his boyfriend, silently staring at the grave in front of him

“I think I should” Ash said, without looking at him “He meant something to you, right?”

“We were good friends…” Gou whispered, and his mind traveled back to the past for a few seconds

Ezequiel wasn’t an expert on many fields, like Gou’s father. He didn’t have exactly a quick mind to react to certain situations like the Vermillion City boy’s mother. And he definitely didn’t have his grandmother’s ability to hold a note for several seconds. But still, every once in a while, Ezequiel and his family would visit Gou’s family and even though he was several years older than him, the boy would enjoy those visits.

He was quirky and very curious. More than once Gou had to explain to him how he could watch all the skies of the City using his camera drones and the screens in his bedroom, Ezequiel would not always understand the scientific or technological terms, but he was willing to learn more.

“He was very much like you” Gou said

Ash remained silent, so the other boy continued

“You asked me if he meant something to me, and he did, even if the last time I saw him was almost five years ago, I still remember him… He was the one who taught me not all humans are mean-spirited bullies”

“Twenty-five years seem like a young age to leave this world” Ash said, and Gou nodded

It was an accident. A tragic, stupid, unfair accident who took Ezequiel’s life and Gou shuddered at the thought that those sorts of things could happen in any minute, to anyone…

He turned around and stared at his parents, silently waiting for him to pay his respects…

Koharu was behind them, and Gou mentally thanked her for the company…

His grandmother was at the girl’s side, Raboot was at her feet, with his palms crossed and his eyes closed…

And finally, Ash was there too, still by his side, still supporting him, still taking his hand…

“You don’t have to be here” Gou repeated “You always enjoy life, you’re always are cheerful, a cemetery is not the place for you, Ash”

His boyfriend denied with his head, squeezing his hand.

“This is not my first funeral, Gou” Ash replied and a knot formed in his throat as soon as certain memories of his past flashed in his mind

“It is my first one” Gou commented “And I think I won’t get over it…”

“What makes you say that?”

“If something like this happened to him, who’s to say it won’t happen to me?”

“Gou, don’t think about that stuff…”

“Or to my parents, or my grandma, or, _Arceus forbids_ what if it happens…”

“Don’t say it” Ash warned

“…To you?” Gou completed

Ash approached his boyfriend and hugged him from behind, crossing his arms over his chest, he left a quick kiss on his cheek, and Gou smiled at the contact.

“Believe me Gou, what matters right now, it’s that we are here, we should enjoy this life, for as long as we can”

He kissed him again and added:

“And who's to say there's not something else beyond this life?"

"You think there's something after death?" Gou questioned

"Ghost-type pokemon exists... Even ghost people too, let's just hope all of them can rest like they deserve"

"That was deep" Gou whispered

"I told you" Ash replied "This is not my first funeral, but right now, let's think about this life, our life, and let's try to think how much we can enjoy it... together"

“Thanks Ash…” Gou whispered

The boy left a flower in front of Ezequiel’s tomb and turned around silently. Ash stared for a moment at the grave.

Silently, he remembered Latios, Sir Aaron, Lucario, Mallow’s Mother, Kiawe’s Grandfather, and so many more, long gone from this world…

“Rest In Peace” he whispered, looking at the sunny skies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rest In Peace, Ezequiel. I'm gonna miss you...


	12. Day 12: Strange Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Drops this chapter and immediately goes to sleep*  
> Enjoy this one, readers!

Ash kept his eyes shut for a few minutes, maybe Gou wasn’t watching, maybe he was just becoming a little paranoid, but he needed the other boy to be asleep to do what he wanted, there was only one way to start understanding his feelings for him, but he really needed to…

Suddenly, Gou started to snore and Ash was relieved by that sound. Now was the time to take action…

Since a few weeks ago, he started to feel strange around the Vermillion City boy, his heartbeat would accelerate every time he hugged him and if Gou was the one hugging _him_ then the feeling would be worse.

Or better?

That’s what another thing, being around Gou felt weird, different than before, he had know him for months, so what changed?

His first option was one of Gou’s new Pokemon: But after checking with the last 15 creatures he captured, Ash decided none of them caused that warm, fuzzy, weird feeling in him, so they weren’t responsible for what was happening to him.

It could be his new Rotomphone? After a pareticular rough encounter with Team Rocket, Gou dropped his device and it shattered, luckily for him, the Rotom occupying it was safe and sound, either way; he had to replace the phone. Ash investigated the gadget a few days ago, but again, he didn’t feel anything remotely close to what he felt when Gou hugged him.

The last option was rather obvious, and Ash slapped himself for not thinking about it before…

Gou’s new shirt! It was white and red and Ash really liked the design, it was a bigger version of the logo on his own cap and the boy felt happy when he saw Gou wearing it, although he didn’t really understood why.

Ash and Pikachu got up and made their way to the couch, where Gou’s shirt was carefully folded; he picked it up and carefully exited the room, with his yellow companion following him closely.

He and his Pokemon descended the stairs quickly and entered the living room; Ash turned on the lights and put Gou’s shirt over the table, inspecting it closely.

“Pika?” Pikachu asked, and Ash nodded

Touching Gou’s shirt send a shiver down Ash’s spine, the fabric was as soft as his friend’s skin, and he mentally slapped himself, soft skin? What a weird thing to think about!

Picking it upon again, he smelled it, and discovered that the shirt had Gou’s perfume, not like a chemical substance or a formula, but more like an essence. Gou’s shirt smelled just like him: It smelled like a never-ending adventure, like the excitement of a capture, like a new friend he never wanted to leave…

Ash frowned, again with those weird thoughts; he offered the shirt to Pikachu and asked:

“What it smells like to you, buddy?”

“Pika-pi!”

“What do you mean a Pinap Berry?” Ash said, raising an eyebrow

“Pika?” Pikachu questioned, wanting to hear his trainer’s opinion

“It smells really nice, I don’t think I ever smelled something like this ever before”

“Pika?”

“No, that’s not a good thing buddy! I can’t understand why I like this shirt so much, and it’s driving me crazy!”

“Pika, Pika-pi?” Pikachu suggested, touching his paws and forming a ball with them

“You’re a genius, Pikachu!” Ash said, calling out his newest partner

“Ri!” Riolu shouted, jumping around ready for a battle

“I need your help, Riolu” Ash exclaimed, and his Pokemon nodded excitedly “But it’s not for a battle”

Riolu frowned, he really wasn’t interested in anything that didn’t involve some sort of fight, but still, he was willing to help his trainer.

“Ri-ri” he said and Ash smiled

“I need you to take a look at this” Ash said, handing him Gou’s shirt “And tell me what you feel”

Riolu took the item and inspected it closely; he smelled it, touched it, licked it a little and even formed an Aura Sphere in front of him, trying to sense what was wrong with it.

A few seconds later, he denied with his head

“Ri-ri-riolu-lu” he explained

“What do you mean is just a normal t-shirt?” Ash protested “There has to be something different with it”

Riolu denied once again, but Ash didn’t accept it, something about this shirt was special, something powerful was attracting him.

Another thought crossed his mind and pondered for a moment…

Maybe it wasn’t one of Gou’s belongings he was attracted to

Maybe he was attracted to Gou himself, he smelled the shirt again. Oh, it definitely smelled like the Vermillion City boy, and when he started to think about him, his heartbeat accelerated.

Ash thanked Riolu for his assistance and called him back to his Poke ball.

Ash and Pikachu went back to the bedroom and the boy placed Gou’s shirt back on the sofa, he looked at the top bunk, Gou was resting, a soft smile plastered on his face.

Oh, it definitely was him; he was the one with the nice smell, the soft skin, the sweet smile…

Gou was the one who made his heart bump faster and faster

Ash decided he could never confess to his friend this new, strange, feeling. What if Gou thought Ash was obsessed with him somehow? What if he decided he didn’t want to be around someone as weird as him?

Ash let out a long breath and returned to his bed, but in the darkness, he noticed something was out of place. His characteristic hat, which he was sure he left on top of his bed before going out of the room, was now in the ground. He picked it out and put it back on his bed, deciding that was an unimportant mystery.

Unbeknownst to him, Gou was fully awake.

He gulped, content with the fact that Ash didn’t realize he took his hat, and had been sniffing at it for the past 15 minutes…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of you, (sorry for not remembering exactly who) suggested Ash and Gou stealing each other's clothes, this is not the same, but the idea is there lol  
> Comments, reviews, suggestions of any kind?  
> Those are very well received, please put them below!  
> See you tomorrow!


	13. Day 13: Of Present And Absent Parents...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Mani! Hope you have a great day!  
> Enjoy this one, readers!

A few weeks after meeting Gou, Ash asked him:

“What’s the deal with your hair, Gou?”

“The deal?” The Vermillion City boy repeated

“Yeah… Why do you have those red hairs on each side of your head?”

“You never heard of highlights?” Gou replied, shaking his head with a smile, to his surprise, Ash denied with his head

Gou spent the next five minutes explaining to the trainer the whole process, indicating that his parents did that to him when he was five years old and since then, he decided that he liked his look.

Once he finished the explanation, Gou started to notice that Ash kept staring at him. For far too long, he coughed, obviously uncomfortable, but Ash remained in the same position.

“Go ahead, say it” Gou finally said

“Say what?”

“What everyone says: You are so weird; it doesn’t suit you, that look is so stupid…”

“People haven’t actually said that to you, right?” Ash questioned

Gou remained silent and the other boy got his answer

“Just say whatever you want to say” Gou insisted “I’m used to that at this point”

“Why did you decide to keep those highlights?” Ash asked and Gou chuckled

“Seriously? That’s what you want to ask?”

Ash nodded with excitement and Gou smiled at him

“You really don’t want to know that”

Ash extended his hand to reach for his friend’s arm, but regretted it at the last second and crossed his arms

“I want to know” he finally replied

“Why?”

“I like to know things about you” Ash confessed and Gou’s cheeks suddenly painted with a faint shade of pink

“Fine” Gou concealed “I don’t know if you noticed it, but my mom has highlights in her hair, too”

Ash thought for a moment, remembering the time he met Kurune, he nodded and Gou continued:

“Since I have the color of my father’s hair, I like to keep a bit of my mother’s too”

“So you’re like a combination of both of them…” Ash said, and Gou nodded, happy that his crush understood him

“Exactly! ”

“Must be nice…” Ash whispered

“Why do you say that?”

“I mean, having your mother and your father by your side, both of them supporting you, loving you, being with you in every step of the road….” Ash continued “Must be nice” he repeated

Gou realized Ash never talked about his father and he never saw or heard anything about him, no pictures or videos, not even a comment from the Pallet Town trainer.

This was uncharted territory for him, but still, he dared to ask:

“Your thinking about your father, aren’t you?”

The boy nodded and Gou wanted to know more, but remained silent

“I wish he was here” Ash said out of nowhere “I wish he was back, I wish he could see all that I achieved, all the things Mom and I did without him, and I wish…”

The boy stopped, and Gou thought he was about to break, so he reached out to him, taking his hand as softly as he could

“I wish he could say he’s proud of me”

“I don’t think I understand how you feel Ash” Gou confessed “My parents were busy with their work most of the time when I was little, but they always managed to find a few minutes a day to make me feel loved and appreciated”

The trainer didn’t reply, so Gou took a deep breath and decided to say something he wanted to say since he met his crush:

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not your father, but I’m really proud of all the things you’ve done”

“Really?” Ash asked, looking at his friend

“Of course” Gou responded with a warm smile “You’ve done so much for your Pokemon, for _any_ Pokemon we met on the road, you are making a huge progress in the World Championship and you…”

“And I?” Ash pressed, squeezing Gou’s hand

“And you manage to give me a new adventure, a new mission, a new unexpected thing every single day, so I’m proud of that, too”

Trying to finish his point, Gou got up and kissed Ash on the cheek, the trainer blushed at the contact and looked away, only to direct his gaze at Gou one second later to ask

“Why did you do that?”

“It seemed… fitting” Gou replied, blushing hard

Ash kissed Gou’s cheek one second later and replied:

“Thank you, Gou…”

“Y-you’re w—wel-welcome” the boy sputtered, and Ash simply smiled at his funny reaction

Oh he really _loved_ that reaction…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long, sorry for such a short chapter, sorry for not replying to your comments! I read them all, I swear!  
> Trying my best here guys, I swear I'll be back on track soon enough!  
> See you tomorrow!


	14. Day 14: What Are We Doing Today?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Sorry for being absent the last couple of days, a lot of things happening right now, and I really don't know if I'm able to handle all of them at once...  
> Special thanks to my best friend Michi, for always being a source of inspiration and support!  
> And of course, to you, my fellow readers!  
> Enjoy this special three-chapter day!

Ash was lying on the grass in Sakuragi Park, extremely comfortable in his current state, when he suddenly decided that he really didn’t want to move.

Pikachu came running at his side and looked with curiosity at the trainer

“Pikapi! Pika-chu!” he said

Ash smiled at his yellow partner and denied with his head

“Sorry buddy, I’ve got no plans for training today”

After so many years of traveling with him, Ash could understood Pikachu perfectly, every time the yellow creature said something, the boy simply comprehended what he meant

“We’ve got to train, Ash!” Pikachu said “We never stopped doing it!”

The Pallet Town native ruffled his friend’s ears and simply whispered

“Not today, Pikachu”

“Sakuragi wants you and Gou to research something?” Pikachu asked

“Nope” the boy simply replied

“Gou wants your help to fill the Pokedex, doesn’t he?”

“He always wants that” Ash conceded “But no, we aren’t doing that today”

“This is one of those days where we accompany Koharu to school?”

“Nope” Ash repeated

“Are we going to Galar? I heard you talking about Leon and Raihan last night”

“We are going in a few days, not today buddy”

“Kalos, Johto, Sinnoh?” Pikachu insisted, eager to know his best friend’s plan

“Not at all”

“I give up” Pikachu complained, and Ash smirked at that “What are you doing today?”

“I’m going to stay here at the Park for the rest of the day”

“Oh!” Pikachu said, his ears perking up at that “Are you planning to have a battle with some of Gou’s Pokemon?” he said, thinking that maybe his trainer had a special surprise in mind

“No Pikachu, not battling, not trainer, not researching”

“What are we doing today then?”

“I’m going to relax; I decided I don’t want to do anything at all today”

Pikachu froze at the mention of the word “relax”. Did his trainer just say that word so casually?

“Are you feeling okay?” Pikachu questioned, touching his trainer’s forehead in a concerned gesture

Ash laughed and patted his friend’s back

“I’m fine”

“You aren’t having another fever, right?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m fine”

Suddenly, a flash of blue and black jumped towards Ash’s chest, grabbing his shirt and demanding:

“Battle, battle, I want a battle!”

Riolu was Ash’s newest partner, but still, the boy could understand him too, due to a combination of his emotional connection and the fact that Riolu had always one thing on his mind:

“Battle!” Riolu repeated

Ash laughed again and picked up Riolu, gently putting him on the ground right next to Pikachu

“Battle, Ash, battle!” Riolu shouted again

“Not today Riolu, sorry”

“Why?” the baby Pokemon asked

Not wanting to repeat the whole scene again, Pikachu patted Riolu’s back and explained him with lots of details what Ash just said to him. As soon as the electric Pokemon stopped, Riolu looked sternly at Ash.

“Battle” he repeated, and Ash denied again

“You two should relax, I’m not going to do anything today, so you could take my example”

Both Pikachu and Riolu stared at him for a few seconds, until they finally nodded. They fell with their backs against the grass and closed their eyes.

Not even a minute after, both of them got up

“It doesn’t work” Pikachu explained

“What do you mean?” Ash questioned

“We can’t relax like you do”

“I see” the trainer responded “You need a pillow”

The boy patted his own legs and offered:

“Want to try?”

Both Pokemon repeated the action, this time using Ash’s legs as a pillow, after a few minutes their breath slowed down and Ash realized they were enjoying the moment, just like him

“It works better this way” Pikachu said, and Riolu nodded in agreement

“Told you guys, you needed a pillow to enjoy this” Ash replied, hugging his own soft pillow, which happened to be Gou’s legs

“Are you going to move at some point?” the boy from Vermillion City asked

“Nope” Ash quickly replied

“Good” Gou said, caressing his boyfriend’s cheek “Because I’m enjoying this too”


	15. Day 15: Dreaming About The Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said all ideas would be taken into consideration.  
> I meant it...  
> Weird premise, but I think the payoff it's worth it, so keep reading guys!

30 years old Gou tucked himself between the covers and heard the voice of his husband:

“Are you _that_ cold, really?” he teased

“Maybe” Gou commented “And if you’re not gonna help me, then I’ll have to keep my body heat somehow”

“You know you’re always welcomed here, you dummy” Ash replied, hugging the man “Besides, what are you complaining about? AC is on, you shouldn’t be cold…”

It took him a moment to realize something

“Oh… you are not complaining about the cold”

“Nope”

“You just need a hug”

“Almost two decades together and you’re still the same dense idiot, Ash Ketchum”

The Pallet Town Champion let out a laugh, and Gou moved towards that sweet spot just above his left shoulder, starting to drift off to sleep

“Hey Gou…” Ash whispered

“What?”

“About that thing we talked last week… you and I… having a…”

Gou registered the question in the back of his mind, but he was so tired, that instead of replying, he simply started to dream…

Gou looked at himself in the mirror, again, and for the umpteenth time in the last nine months, he asked himself:

“How the hell did this happen?”

“Well, Professor Sakuragi said…” Ash began, hugging his husband from behind

“ _I know_ what he said” Gou interrupted, exasperated

The Pallet Town remained silent, unable to say anything else

“I’m sorry” Gou immediately said “It’s just… I’m…”

He broke down, holding his enlarged, impossible, unexplainable pregnant belly.

“You’re scared, I know” Ash commented, without letting him go

Gou simply nodded and looking away, whispered:

“What about you? Are you scared, Ash?”

The other man nodded again and Gou continued:

“Scared enough to run away?”

“Why would I run away?” Ash countered, a little offended

“Because your husband is a freak with a really weird genetic condition that…”

Ash put a finger in front of the other man’s mouth, silencing him completely

“A really weird genetic condition that in a few days will make me very happy”

“Assuming I survive” Gou added with a hint of sadness

“Listen Gou, we both know this is dangerous, if you want to…”

“Don’t even dare to suggest that” his husband interrupted him “I’m having him, ok? We talked about this a million times before…”

“Of course” Ash said solemnly “Sorry for bringing that up again…”

Ash knew he needed to break the ice somehow, so he added:

“…Daddy”

“You’re the daddy too, you imbecile”

“That’s hurtful”

“But you’re _my_ imbecile” Gou completed, kissing his husband

He looked down again, feeling the tremendous weight he was carrying and felt Ash’s hand softly pressed against that place.

For a split second, Gou was convinced everything was going to be fine.

And then he felt a tremendous pain. Like something breaking down on his insides…

Gou suddenly woke up; he looked around, familiar hotel room, familiar covers above his body, familiar husband stroking his back. He touched his belly. Flat. A little bit of muscle, but mostly flat.

“You had that dream again, right?” Ash asked and Gou plopped down back to the bed

“For how long I was asleep?”

“Only a few minutes” Ash replied

“You asked me something…”

“Huh?”

Gou looked at his husband's face and made his way back to his chest

“Before I fell asleep” he insisted “You asked me something”

“We don’t need to have this conversation right now” Ash declared

“Yes” his husband replied “Yes, we do, you said it yourself, I had that dream again, and I’ve been having that dream for the last three weeks!”

“You really want to adopt a child, don’t you?” Ash questioned with a smile

“You don’t?”

“Are you kidding me?” the Champion replied, smirking “A little boy…”

“Or girl” Gou interrupted

“Or girl” Ash agreed “Following our steps, being with us, wanting to explore the world and meet lots of Pokemon, just like you and me? I’d love that!”

“What about parenting?”

“We have some experience with Kukui and Burnet’s child” Ash suggested

“Very little experience, you mean”

“We can learn the rest along the way, like everything else!”

“What about us? There’s a lot of people in this world who doesn’t like the idea of a gay couple adopting a child, even if it’s legal”

“If someone bullies our little girl…” Ash begun

“Or boy” Gou commented

“Or boy, right. If someone bullies our little children for having two gay parents I’ll literally punch that person all the way to the Distortion World”

“I like when you do your not-so-serious threats” Gou commented

“I know” Ash said, hugging his husband again “So…”

“So…” the other man repeated

None of them said another word that night, but their idea for the future was already pretty clear on their minds…


	16. Day 16: A Quick Anesthesia

That morning, Ash noticed something strange in his boyfriend’s behavior

“You haven’t touched your breakfast” the boy from Pallet Town said, pointing at Gou’s plate

“I’m not hungry” the other boy replied

“After spending the night trying to catch Ghost-type Pokemon, really?”

“Not every single person is a food-devouring machine like you, Ash” Gou said with a chuckle, after that, he winced in pain for a second, touching his cheek

“Just eat something” Ash ordered, pinching a piece of carrot and motioning the fork towards Gou

“I’m fine, I don’t want to eat”

“Stop lying to me” Ash warned “And just eat the carrot”

“I don’t want to!” Gou shouted, and immediately covered his mouth, he tried to turn away, but Ash saw the tears escaping from his eyes

“What’s wrong?” Ash questioned, and Gou took a step back

“N-nothing” Gou replied, but the tears were still there

Ash put a hand on Gou’s face and started to understand what was going on

“Open your mouth” the Pallet Town trainer commanded

Hesitantly, Gou obeyed. Ash took a quick look and figured out the problem almost immediately

“You have a loose tooth!” he said, gently touching one of Gou’s canines “Let me…”

“No!” Gou quickly replied, stepping away

“But it’s the one on the front; it must hurt a lot Gou”

“I don’t want you to touch it, it’s gonna fall”

“You’ll have a gap for a few weeks; it’s not the end of the world! Now let me…”

“It’s not only that” Gou cut him off

“Then what’s the problem?”

“That’s the last one of my baby teeth, Ash…”

Ash chuckled and Gou frowned immediately

“You still have baby teeth?” the raven haired boy asked, amused

“Of course I do, lots of people have baby teeth, even at older ages!”

“Fine” Ash nodded “Now, let me remove your baby tooth, baby”

“You are not doing such a thing!” Gou protested, trying to ignore Ash’s last word

“Why not?”

“Because, if it falls…”

“When it falls” Ash corrected

“When it falls” Gou accepted “I’ll look ridiculous and ugly”

Ash chuckled again and Gou shot him a menacing look

“What’s so funny?”

“In this relationship, I’m the ridiculous one” Ash said “And you know I’m right”

Gou nodded, and his boyfriend kissed his forehead gently, whispering:

“And you’d never look ugly, not even if you wanted to, and a missing tooth won’t change how cute you are, now trust me…”

“It’s gonna hurt as hell, right?” Gou questioned

“I could give you an anesthetic if you want” Ash offered

“You know what anesthesia is?” Gou jokingly said

“You want it or not?” Ash repeated, crossing his arms

“How would that even wo…?”

Before Gou could finish the sentence, Ash took a step and kissed him softly on the lips. The boy from Vermillion City forgot about the pain for a moment and got lost in the sensation…

When Ash took a step back, Gou had his mouth opened. The trainer took his chance and quickly grabbed the loosen tooth, snatching him out with force.

Gou let out a scream and covered his face again. He shot his boyfriend a glare and Ash stood there, smiling as always

“You maniac!” he complained, noticing how a string of blood escaped from his mouth

“Told you it was gonna hurt a little”

“Shut up and give some more anesthetics, Doctor Ketchum” Gou replied, kissing his boyfriend again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did you enjoy the triple feature, my dear readers?  
> Any suggestions for the next thirteen days?  
> See you tomorrow!


	17. Day 17: Sweet Spots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> Someone suggested soft kisses, so enjoy a sweet moment between our boys!

Gou was looking at his phone, checking once again how many Pokemon he needed to catch before completing the Kanto Pokedex, when he suddenly felt a little tug at the top of his head; he ignored the sensation and kept staring at the screen…

For a second, he wondered how Ash would feel at the moment when he inevitably decided to catch a Pikachu…

Another tug interrupted the simulation in his head; Gou blinked and ignored it again, knowing too well what was happening.

“Ash, how would you feel if I caught a Pikachu?” Gou expressed aloud

The trainer softly touched the top of his boyfriend’s head once again and shrugged:

“I wouldn’t mind, you need to complete your Pokedex, right?”

“Well, yeah… But it wouldn’t be weird if I caught that Pokemon species?”

“You know what would be really weird?” the other boy asked, making a little whirlpool on the back of Gou’s head

“What?”

“If at some point you would caught an Articuno, or a Zapdos, or a Moltres…” Ash completed, chuckling

“I’m gonna catch a legendary one of these days, you’ll see” Gou replied with a frown

“Of course you will” the trainer commented now placing his fingers on Gou’s nape, the boy shuddered at the feeling and looked up, directly at his boyfriend’s eyes

“Unrelated question, what the hell are you doing right now?”

“Researching” Ash simply answered

“What, exactly?” Gou insisted, feeling how his boyfriend decided to explore the side of his neck

“I want to know if there’s a place where you feel better” Ash replied, now going straight for a hug and crossing his arms under Gou’s shirt

“You are so weird, Ash” the boy immediately said, leaving a soft kiss on the boy’s nose and smiling at his reaction, the trainer blushed hard and quickly let go of Gou’s chest, covering his face with his hands.

“Not fair…” he muttered

“What you mean with ´no fair´?” Gou questioned, raising an eyebrow

“You know that’s my soft spot” the other boy replied “And after all this time, I still don’t know yours”

The researcher approached the trainer with a devious smile plastered on his face

“That’s not your _only_ soft spot” Gou warned

Before Ash could reply, Gou tackled him to the ground and fall on top of him, preventing him from any attempt to escape

“Gou…”

“Shut up” his boyfriend responded, kissing his nape and causing another blush

“Stop!”

“I don’t want to…” Gou replied, placing yet another kiss on Ash’s forehead and ruffling his hair

Ash tried a desperate attempt and used his nose to caress Gou’s cheek, the boy from Vermillion City blushed a little at the contact and smiled

“Not bad, Ash, now let’s see you” he said, imitating the other’s boy movements and leaving a trail of kisses on Ash’s neck and nape

The trainer not only blushed again, but started to laugh uncontrollably

“There’s that sound I love so much” Gou commented, attacking Ash’s neck again

“Fine, fine! I give up!” Ash shouted, trying to raise his arms, his boyfriend smiled and got up, extending an arm and helping him to stand back on his feet

“Wish I knew what your sweet spot is, Gou” Ash confessed and Gou smirked

“Why are you obsessed with that?”

“You just said you love the sound of my laugh” the raven haired explained “I’d really like to know how to make you laugh that way”

“You can’t be serious” Gou replied “You know exactly how to make me laugh” he continued, using his fingers to swiftly stroke his own lips

“There has to be another way to make you laugh like that!”

“You’re not going to leave me alone until you discover it, right?” Gou questioned

“You know me well” Ash responded

“Fine, here you go” Gou said, extending his hand towards the other boy. Ash stared at it, dumbfounded

“What should I do?”

“Kiss it, you idiot” Gou replied, deadpanning

Ash took his boyfriend’s hand and kissed it as softly as he could and Gou let out a little, genuine laugh immediately, so Ash continued, now kissing the boy’s wrist

Gou closed his eyes, lying back and laughing again, Ash took notice of the movement and kept going up his arm, rolling Gou’s sleeves in the process, when he was about to finish, he kissed the boy’s cheek again and looked at him.

Gou was red as a Razz Berry and Ash smiled

“Are you happy now, you idiot?” Gou claimed

The trainer hugged his boyfriend and gave him a long, sweet kiss on the lips; they stayed in that position for several seconds until Ash broke the contact

“Really happy” the trainer concluded, kissing Gou again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, happy with the results?  
> Remember, comments, reviews and ideas are always appreciated, so thanks again for all your support!  
> See you tomorrow!


	18. Day 18: Ash Used Strength!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Enjoy!  
> *Throws some fluff at you and runs away*

The life of a researcher was tiring…

Gou reached to that conclusion on a Thursday night, three months after he enrolled as Sakuragi’s assistant.

He and Ash have been hiking for hours, checking the habitat of the Geodude evolutionary line, the job required to check all kinds of caves, so the two boys spent the entire day going up and down the side of a mountain.

The Vermillion City boy plopped down on Ash’s bed, unable to move another step

“Gou, that’s my spot” the trainer said behind him

“Have my bed tonight, please” the other boy replied, his voice muffled by the pillow

Suddenly, he felt a soft pressure at his back and freeze at the contact, Ash was rubbing his back, drawing little circles on it and applying some pressure

“What are you doing?” Gou asked, silently thanking that the trainer couldn’t see his hard blush in the middle of the night

“You need a massage” Ash simply replied “You’re obviously too tired”

“What I meant is _why_ are you doing this?” Gou questioned

“And the answer is the same” the raven haired responded “Because you need it”

“I…”

“Sssshhh” Ash said, applying even more pressure on his friend’s back “Just relax…”

Gou closed his eyes and decided to follow his friend’s advice. He bit his lip as soon as he thought about that word. “Friend” of course, Ash was his best friend, apart from Koharu, his only friend and he couldn’t deny it; his feelings for him were… complicated, to say the least

He wish he could say aloud how much he loved him, and how much he meant to him, how he wanted to know every single thing about him, and spend every single second by his side.

But that would be too creepy, and of course, Ash only saw him as a friend, after all, what else…

Another pressure interrupted the boy’s thoughts, and he flinched.

“I’m sorry, that was too hard, right?” Ash asked

Gou didn’t respond, and Ash continued, but after a few seconds, the researcher flinched again

“You have to tell me if it hurts, Gou” Ash insisted

“A little bit” the boy said, and immediately flinched once more

Ash let go of him and after a few seconds, Gou turned around and sat on the bed, looking at his crush.

“Why did you stop?”

“Because I’m hurting you… Why don’t you want to tell me anything?” Ash countered

“I thought you’d be mad at me” Gou said, looking down

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been complaining the whole day!” Gou shouted “The long trip, the walking, the hiking, all of that has been a tiresome experience and now you wanted me to feel better and I didn’t want you to get mad at me for being a whiny…”

Ash put a hand in front of Gou’s face, silencing him

“Don’t say that Gou, you were tired, but you still did all of those things, now, please tell me, was I hurting you?”

Gou nodded

“See? It wasn’t that hard to admit it” Ash said, smiling and causing another blush to appear on Gou’s face

The boy tried to say something else, but Ash added

“I’m sorry”

“What for?”

“Sometimes I can’t control my own strength” Ash admitted

Gou suddenly remembered something and a thought escaped from his lips

“You are strong as hell, Ash Ketchum”

“What makes you say that?”

“You’ve been carrying Riolu and Pikachu the whole day!” Gou said “That’s more than 25 kilograms!”

“Oh, that’s nothing at all”

Gou blinked

“Nothing at all?” he repeated, and Ash nodded

“Back in Kalos, my Talonflame used to perch on one of my arms”

Gou took out his Rotomphone and checked the Pokemon database

“That’s more than 20 kilograms! With just one arm!” Gou said, impressed

“Oh, and my Pignite really loves when I hold him up!”

“That’s more than 50 kilograms, are you kidding me?” Gou exclaimed, his eyes filled with amazement

“Oh, and when I was in Johto I carried a Larvitar for miles after he hatched from an egg”

“That’s impossible”

“It’s not for me” Ash replied

Gou studied his crush’s face. No, he wasn’t lying…

“You’re impossible, Ash Ketchum” he said, and the other boy burst out laughing, suddenly, he hugged his friend and put his hands around his waist, lifting him up

“What are you doing?” Gou asked, kicking around

“Proving to you how strong I am” Ash commented “I’m gonna lift you up for the next, what do you say, three hours”

“Ash, don’t be stupid, we need to sleep, _I_ need to sleep”

“Sleep can wait”

Ash twirled around, holding Gou’s entire body and still smiling

“I wouldn’t mind if you try to sleep while I’m holding you“

“Again, don’t be stupid” Gou repeated

“You know how many times Pikachu, Riolu and Larvitar slept in my arms?”

“I’m not a Pokemon!” Gou shouted, and Ash laughed again

“Come on…” Ash said “I don’t mind, do you?”

For a moment though, the Vermillion City boy considered the idea. He really wanted to be closer to his crush, and this could be the perfect opportunity. Before he could say anything, Ash managed to open their bedroom’s door and started to walk towards the stairs

“Ash, don’t!”

“Don’t worry, I got you” the boy said, slowly descending the stairs 

They made their way out of the building and Gou said

“It’s almost midnight, Ash, where are we going?”

“For a walk, I told you, my Pokemon likes to sleep when I’m holding them, but only if I’m walking…”

“You don’t have to do this” Gou said, he tried to get off, but the trainer applied a little pressure and gripped him tightly

“I want to, you need to sleep, and I’ll get you to sleep”

For a short moment, Ash touched Gou’s nose with his own, and the boy thought about stealing a kiss from him, but as soon as the trainer started to walk again, he was forced put his head on Ash’s shoulder. After a few minutes, the walk worked, and Gou started to snore…

Ash kept walking for a few minutes more, until he stopped at a clearing, watching how Gou was sleeping peacefully in his arms.

He looked really cute that way, and without him noticing, the raven haired boy gave him a sweet, short kiss on his cheek.

And then, he started to walk again…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ideas, suggestions, comments of any kind?  
> Right below here please, and thank you for so much support!  
> I'll see you tomorrow :)


	19. Day 19: A Date To Remember! (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, that's all I'm gonna say!

Ash took a long look at himself in the mirror and smiled, Pikachu jumped to his shoulder and the trainer quickly grabbed him, putting him on the ground

“Sorry buddy, no perching today” he said, looking back at the mirror and adjusting his new blue suit “Tonight has to be perfect”

“Pikapi, Pika…” the electric Pokemon said, frowning

“I’m not overreacting!” Ash excused himself “It’s just… for once, I want to do things right”

“Pika…” his buddy replied, patting the human in the back of his legs

“Thanks Pikachu, I really need your support”

The electric Pokemon managed to give his trainer a thumb up, and Ash smiled

Suddenly, the boy felt a strong tongue licking his hair, he turned around and shouted:

“Gengar, no!”

“Gen! Gen!” the Shadow Pokemon said, appearing out of nowhere and letting out his characteristic laugh, Ash went back in front of the mirror and analyzed his look once again

“Actually” he mused “Could you do that again?”

Gengar was weird out by the petition, but complied either way, licking his trainer’s hair once again. Ash stared at the result for a few seconds…

“Perfect! Your tongue works better than any hairspray! Thank you!”

Gengar nodded, knowing very well how special tonight was to Ash

A few seconds after that, another Pokemon tackled Ash to the ground

“Ri! Ri!” Riolu shouted, touching the boy’s chest with his palms

“Sorrt Riolu” Ash replied “Not training tonight”

“Ri! Ri!” Riolu said, denying with his head and giving Ash a bowtie

“Oh, right” the boy said, grabbing the item “I almost forgot”

Once again, Ash started to look at himself in the mirror.

Long blue suit with dark stripes? Check

Perfectly trimmed and slick hair? Check

Blue pants (not shorts, because those weren’t fancy enough)? Check

Brushed teeth? Check

Clean hands, without any mud traces? Check

And finally, a red rose in his inside pocket?

Ash opened his suit, inspecting the pocket and immediately gulped.

“Guys, do any of you saw where I put my red rose?” Ash asked, desperate

All of his Pokemon denied at the same time and Ash started to panic, that was the last detail, without it, tonight was doomed to fail!

A soft knock in the window interrupted his thoughts, Ash looked in that direction and saw the big shadow covering the glass, and then he rushed to it and opened the window

“Dra!” Dragonite said, handing him his precious red rose

“Thanks buddy!” the boy shouted, hugging his Pokemon

Dragonite hugged him back and Ash let him go, he took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen

“Well guys, wish me luck!” he commented, exiting the room

Ash made his way to the entrance of the Institute and stood outside, just in time to see Professor Sakuragi and his daughter leaving the place.

“Have a good night, Ash” the man said, with a hint of pride in his voice. His two young researchers had come a long way since the day they met each other…

“Thanks Professor!” the young man replied

“Why are you waiting outside?” Koharu asked, raising an eyebrow “Gou it’s…”

“Sssshhh” her father interrupted “Don’t spoil the surprise, dear”

“Whatever…” she said

The girl sounded as annoyed as always, but Ash couldn’t help but notice the little smirk in her face, she was happy for both of her friends, and there was no way to hide that

The girl and her father waved a goodbye and Ash returned the salute, once they left the place, Ash sat on the entrance, waiting for the moment…

Any minute now, his boyfriend would come to pick him up for their first date.

“I want to…” Gou said a few days earlier, looking down

“You want to… what?” Ash asked him, unable to hear his boyfriend

The boy from Vermilion City started to touch his fingers nervously and Ash decided to take action

“Please, tell me…” he said, ruffling the other’s boy hair “What do you want?”

Gou laughed at the contact and blushing furiously, confessed:

“I want to have a date with you!”

“Really?” Ash asked

“Yes! I’d like that!”

“Let’s have a date, then” Ash replied with conviction

“How can you act so casually?” Gou questioned

“And how can you be so embarrassed to ask me something like that?”

“Well, you are the Alolan Champion, and so many people know you, and we barely had been kissing for a few days now and…”

“And holding hands, and staring at each other for a long time, and saying sweet things to each other” Ash completed

“Still, we haven’t go on dates yet, and I really wanted to prepare something special for you, you know, to thank you”

“Thank me?”

“For loving me…” Gou said, looking down and blushing again

“You don’t need to thank me for that” Ash said, lifting his boyfriend’s chin “But I really want to have a date with you”

“Ok!” Gou said, his eyes glimmering with excitement

“What do you have in mind?”

“Leave everything in my hands, don’t worry!” Gou said, rushing outside their shared bedroom “I’ll meet you tonight at 8!”

“I’ll be waiting!” Ash replied, smiling

The boy from Pallet Town thought he needed to look good if he was gonna have his first date, so he started to look through his own clothes, searching for something fancy for such a special occasion…

“Hey there!” A familiar voice shouted, and Ash came back to reality, looking up. Gou was looking at him from inside the Institute

“Hey!” Ash replied

“Looking handsome, as always” the boy said and Ash scratched his cheek, embarrassed

“Where are we going?”

“Going?”

“For our date” Ash confirmed, thinking for a moment that maybe his boyfriend forgot about the whole “date” idea…

“We’re not going anywhere” Gou quickly replied, with a little smile

 _“You have to come up”_ he completed, much to Ash’s surprise…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued... tomorrow!  
> Chapter is pretty much completed, but is there something you want to see/read about?  
> Don't be shy! That's what the suggestion box is for!  
> See you readers!


	20. Day 20: A Date To Remember! (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wanted a 2K fic, right AX-Glaceon?  
> Just so you know, I have a lot of work to do guys (yeah, even on sundays, that's the life of a programmer) I'm doing my best here!  
> Enjoy!

Ash went back inside the institute, making his way to the stairs, he found what he assumed was the first of many surprises:

Each step of the stairs was covered by a large, green leaf, and after thinking for a moment, the trainer realized their shape matched perfectly with the ones that usually grow on the back of Ivysaurs. He gently picked up one.

Plastic, because of course Gou would never hurt an Ivysaur to get its leaves. He picked up the leaves one by one, thinking of how much they meant to him.

Ivysaur was the first Pokemon he and Gou investigated together, and even though at first he considered Gou to be a really selfish guy, he found out the boy of his dream had a bigger heart than he ever imagined.

“Such a nice detail” he whispered to himself

Turning around, he kept walking towards the room he supposed Gou was waiting in, but someone else was expecting him outside.

“Rab!” Raboot said, pointing at his shoes

Ash chuckled, looking at the little bowtie the fire-type Pokemon was wearing

“Gou forced you to put that on?” the trainer questioned

For all response, Raboot turned around, a blush evident on his face, after a few seconds, he pointed at Ash’s shoes again and the boy understood the message.

He took out his shoes and placed them right beside the door, before entering the room; he looked at Raboot again and said:

“It’s so cute you want to help him, I mean, us. Thanks Raboot”

The Pokemon gave him a little nod in response.

Ash knew this was supposed to be a storage room, so he wondered what exactly Gou could have in mind…

As soon as he entered the place, he stared in awe, the room was filled with candles of all sizes and the boy couldn’t help but notice how some of them shared a resemblance to a Zen Mode Darmanitan 

Because of course Gou had to remember that time they almost got trampled, squished and flattened to their deaths, together…

“I never said you had to wear a suit” Gou said, getting Ash out of his trance

The boy from Vermillion City was in his usual outfit, nothing looked different, his grey and red shirt, his black pants, his pointy (and very cute) hair, everything was there…

“I feel stupid now” the boy continued, noticing how Ash was staring at him for longer than usual “I should have…”

“You look great” Ash interrupted “as always”

The boy looked away, covering his face with the back of his hand, Ash approached to him and place a hand over his, whispering:

“You don’t have to hide your blushes anymore, we are boyfriends now, remember?”

Gou chuckled at how that word sounded coming out of the mouth of the dense Ash Ketchum, he pointed at a table and the boy sat down, staring at him

“So, when are we eating?” the trainer asked and Gou laughed

“That’s all you can think of?” Gou replied

“You know me…” the other boy responded, scratching his cheek

As if on cue, a light sound came from outside. Gou quickly got up and opened the window, Butterfree and Beedrill were outside, they gave the boy a couple of bags and then flew away.

Ash tried to sneak a glance at the content, but his boyfriend chastised him

“Close your eyes” he warned sternly, and the boy obeyed

A few seconds later, an aroma invaded his nostrils, the unmistakable fragrance of…

“You got croquettes for our date?” he said, opening his eyes and smiling at Gou

“Of course” the other boy replied, presenting him a plate “With some salad”

“Yuck”

“Don’t say that! You need to eat vegetables! Besides, Oddish and Parasect worked hard cultivating these”

“So, your Pokemon also helped you with the date?”

“Yeah” Gou admitted “Dewgong even helped me to find the best place to get fresh water”

“I think they really like seeing us together” the trainer commented, and Gou agreed

After a few minutes of enjoying his meal, Ash cut a piece of croquette and offered it to his boyfriend

“What are you doing?” Gou questioned

“I saw this once in a movie” Ash explained “It’s supposed to be romantic, right?”

Gou laughed wholeheartedly

“How old was that movie?” he commented, still, he stretched towards the fork, having a bite and returning to his seat “Such a gentleman, Mr. Ketchum”

The way Gou looked at him caused Ash to blush, and he decided to change the topic

“I thought you were gonna invite me to a fancy restaurant or something, that’s why I dressed for the occasion”

“I see” Gou said, with a hint of sadness “You don’t like this, then?”

“Are you kidding me? You put this so much effort into this! It’s better than a restaurant”

“Well, I…” Gou started, but shut up

“Hmm?” Ash said, forcing him to continue

“I couldn’t afford a fancy place, I don’t have that much money! And besides… I wanted to spend the night with you and only you”

It seemed that no matter what Gou did or said, everything was going to cause Ash to blush, every detail, every phrase, and every movement that Gou made. He stared at him, again, for too long, until the boy let out another thought

“I’m sorry….”

“What for?”

“I said ‘only you’ that sounded so… clingy. I am so clingy”

“I like when you cling to me, Gou”

“That’s not a good thing, Ash”

“Of course it is!” the trainer countered “Every time you hold my hand, or you hug me, or you smile at me, you make me feel so special”

They both made a pause, and Ash decided to finish the sentence:

“I like when you make me feel needed”

Gou reached for Ash’s hand and intertwined his fingers with him, staring at his face with those blue, ocean-deep eyes

“Yeah” Ash admitted “Just like that, Gou”

The boy from Vermillion City knew the way to Ash’s heart, so of course the dessert had to be some Galarian scones

“It’s my own take on the recipe” Gou explained “So I don’t think they are as good as the orig…”

Before he could end the sentence, Ash had already devoured four of them

“Theymmmf aremmmfff”

“Ash, you’re gonna…”

The warning came out too late, and Ash started to choke, Gou rushed to his side and patted his back, offering him some water, the trainer was back to normal in a few seconds, but still, he complained

“I think… there’s still… something… stuck” he said, and Gou couldn’t help but notice he was pretending, he gave him another pat on his back, and asked

“Better?”

Ash denied with his head and Gou repeated the action

“What about now?”

Another negative

“You just want me to rub your back, don’t you?” Gou accused

“Maybe…” Ash admitted sheepishly

“You dummy” the other boy replied, hugging Ash’s back and drawing little circles on it

Once he was done, Ash thanked his boyfriend for the food and commented

“This was such a great date!”

“You think this is over? Put your shoes on, tonight’s not over yet” the boy said, smirking

Night had fall when Gou lead his boyfriend outside the Institute, Stantler was lying there, waiting for them, the Vermillion City boy hop on the back of his Pokemon and invited Ash to do the same, as soon as the trainer was well adjusted, Stantler began to walk

After a few minutes, Ash realized Stantler was walking directly to Sakuragi Park, enjoying the ride; he put his head in Gou’s shoulder, kissing his cheek and causing another blush to form on his face.

The boy remained silent, so Ash decided to hug him, pressing his nose against his nape.

“Stop that, Ash!” Gou said, giggling

“I don’t want to” the boy replied “And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to either”

Gou didn’t say a thing, so Ash continued to kiss him…

Once they reached their destiny, the couple hop off and Stantler ran way, not before turning around and nod to both of them.

“Guys!” Gou shouted and seemingly out of nowhere, Raboot, Poliwag, Sandile and Scyther appeared in front of them

“Okay guys, like we practiced, one two three!” Gou said

Raboot took a stone and kicked it up, the item burst into flames and Poliwag jumped, aiming his bubblebeam directly at it. The effect of the attack caused a few little explosions of light, until

Sandile directed its mud shot attack against the bubbles, making them explode again and transforming the light explosions into a darker tone. Finally, Scyther used his air slash, causing another series of explosions.

“We didn’t have much time to practice it, but…”

“It’s beautiful, Gou” Ash said, taking his hand “You and your Pokemon did an amazing job. Thanks guys!”

The group of creatures smiled at the trainer, before leaving the scene, Gou started to walk away, and Ash caught up with him

“Do me a favor, Gou” Ash said out of the blue

“What is it?”

“Start to trust yourself a little bit more, okay?”

“I…”

“I noticed it” Ash interrupted “We didn’t go to a restaurant because you’re still scared of showing in public, believe, I am too”

“At least you understand me” Gou said, looking down

“And you made all of this! Just for me! And you are constantly saying sorry and thinking you can do it better”

“But I can” Gou replied, looking at the boy of his dreams “I can do it so much better!”

“I don’t need better” Ash said, approaching him “I only need you, Gou”

“I…”

Ash interrupted him again, this time with a kiss. Gou closed his eyes and extended his arms towards Ash’s head, ruffling his hair, while Ash hugged his waist tightly, not wanting to being away from him.

They finally broke the kiss and Gou had to take a deep breath to recover, he looked at the other boy, grinning as always.

“More… please” he said, his voice barely a whisper

“Of course” Ash conceded, tackling his boyfriend to the ground and falling on top of him

None of them were sure how much time they spend kissing each other on the ground, hugging each other, pressing their bodies against the other, wishing that moment would last forever.

Ash finally surrendered, falling at his boyfriend’s left side and staying there, unable to move anymore.

“Thank you, Gou”

“Why?”

“For making me feel like no one before”

“You’re exaggerating”

Ash turned around, looking straight at him and twirling the tip of his hair

“I met so many people on my travels” he confessed “made so many friends, lived so many adventures, I traveled the whole world before meeting you, Gou”

He gave him a quick peck on the lips before adding:

“And I want to travel all of it again, with you. Because everything is different, more fun, more exciting, more enjoyable with you”

“How am I supposed to respond to that?” Gou said, moved to the brink of tears

“You could kiss me again” Ash offered

Gou jumped straight at him, they lost themselves on each other’s lips until Ash remembered something, he search for something in his suit pocket and became distraught

“What happened?” Gou questioned

“I forgot… I was suppose to give you this” Ash said, taking out a red rose, all the pressure between his and Gou’s body had flattened the flower and Ash looked down, sadly

“Pinsir! Pinsir, come here!” Gou called

After a few seconds, the Stag Beetle Pokemon appeared and Gou handed him the damaged flower

“You think you can…?” the boy asked

The Pokemon delicately took the rose and inspected it for a few seconds and then nodded, quickly running away

“Pinsir has a special talent with flowers, if he says he can save it, then he will” Gou explained, helping his boyfriend to get up, he kissed his cheek for a second before adding “Such a nice flower, by the way, thank you”

“I love how you have a backup plan for everything” Ash simply said

Gou took his boyfriend’s hand and started to walk, there was one last surprise left.

There was a little mountain on top of the park, where Gou’s biggest Pokemon liked to rest. When he heard his trainer’s plans for that night, Golurk decided he wanted to share his special spot with the human couple.

The Automaton Pokemon was waiting for them on the highest point of the park and as soon as they were right beside him, Golurk lifted both boys up and placed them on his massive left shoulder.

“Can I…?” Ash asked

“Of course” Gou said, crossing his legs

Ash lay back towards his boyfriend, placing his head between his legs and smiling at him, Gou smiled back and they stayed watching the starry night above them, happier than ever.

After a few seconds, Ash decided to break the silence

“I wish I could go to sleep like this”

“I can arrange that” Gou said, snapping his fingers several times

Venomoth came flying towards the boys, and Gou ordered

“Use Sleep Powder on both of us, please”

“That sounds dangerous” Ash said

“Daredevil Ash Ketchum saying something is dangerous?” Gou mocked with a laugh

“We could fall” the boy said with concern

“Luuuurk” A voice boomed below them

“Golurk will watch over us, we won’t fall”

“In that case” Ash said, hugging Gou “Let’s go to sleep”

“This may sound dumb” Gou said, blushing “But…”

“Just said it, Gou” Ash commented

“Can I be the big spoon for once?”

“Of course” Ash said, turning around

Gou hugged him from behind and Ash rested his body against him

“Venomoth, use Sleep Powder” Gou commanded

As soon as he noticed the Powder was taking effect, Ash whispered

“Best…Date… Ever… I love you, Gou”

“I love you too, Ash” the other boy replied

And just like that, they both fell asleep, guarded by every single one of their Pokemon…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did you like it?  
> Ideas, comments, thoughts of any kind?  
> Down below please, and I'll see you tomorrow!


	21. Day 21: Two Noisy Idiots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, that's all I'll say!

Gou looked at the clock in his Rotomphone: 2:15 AM

Another restless night, he let out long sigh, once again, he had done so much stuff today… Exploring, researching, discovering, running…

Life was an adventure, but sadly for him, sometimes that adventure was just too much, and his brain refused to give him the rest he so desperately needed

“You can’t sleep either, huh?” A voice said below him

Without expecting a response, Ash Ketchum climbed his way up and sat at the edge of Gou’s bed. Raboot woke up, startled by the other human’s presence, huffing, he jumped away and went to occupy Ash’s bed, alongside Pikachu.

“Can I join you?” Ash asked with a smile

“It seems you already did” Gou responded, chuckling

“Oh, I’m not invited, then?” the other boy replied, making a pout

Gou moved away the covers, inviting him to rest beside him

“You’re always welcome here, Ash”

The trainer hopped towards his boyfriend, filling his face with kiss after kiss.

“I said you could share my bed, not attack me like that” Gou shouted, pretending to be angry

“You can’t expect me to stay here, lying by your side and not kiss your cute face over and over again”

“Master your urges, Ketchum” Gou warned

“I don’t want to” the trainer quickly replied, nuzzling Gou’s neck, the boy let out a long laugh

“Quit it” he insisted “We’re research fellows, this is extremely unprofessional!”

“You didn’t get the last mail from Professor Sakuragi?” Ash asked

“Huh?” Gou said, wondering what that had to do with their current conversation

“He said he will promote us, we won’t be research fellows anymore”

“What?”

“We will be research boyfriends from now on” Ash said, grinning and attacking Gou’s neck once again

The boy from Vermillion City suddenly grabbed his boyfriend’s face and kissed him right on the lips, taking his breath away in the process, once they separated, Gou said:

“Don’t ever change, you silly boy”

“I don’t plan to” Ash admitted, taking the other boy’s hands between the covers and making him laugh again, they spent the next few minutes kissing each other, giggling at their dumb comments, praising how the other looked so beautiful under the moonlight.

Suddenly, two screams interrupted them

“Rab!”

“Pika!”

Both boys looked down from the edge of the bed at their Pokemon, they were with their paws crossed and a very unfriendly look plastered on their faces.

“Are we being too loud?” Ash asked

“Pika!” the electric Pokemon said, nodding

“Sorry, I can’t help it” Ash said, rubbing Gou’s back “I mean, how could I?”

Both Pokemon deadpanned and exited the room, they weren’t gonna get any sleep tonight if their trainers kept acting like that.

“We aren’t _that_ loud” Ash said, and his boyfriend agreed

“I don’t know what they’re complaining about” Gou said

After that brief interruption, Ash started to tickle Gou’s sides and the boy let out an incontrollable laugh, Gou tried to attack him back, but he ended up squeezing his arms and instead of letting him go, he repeated that action several times.

“What are you doing?” Ash asked

“I like how strong and firm your arms feel” Gou confessed

“Don’t say those things!” Ash shouted, looking away

“Why not?” Gou teased, kissing his the other’s boy temple and lowering his voice _“Are you embarrassed?”_

“Maybe a little” Ash confirmed with a blush

Gou tackled him back to the mattress and stayed on top of him, kissing his shoulders this time and earning a few giggles in response

“WOULD YOU TWO PLEASE SHUT UP?” a loud, grave voice shouted from the room next to theirs

“Koharu?” Ash asked, also shouting

“OF COURSE IT’S ME YOU DIOTS, I HAD TO SPEND THE NIGHT HERE, AND I HATE IT!”

“Why?”

“BECAUSE NO ONE CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU TWO START KISSING EACH OTHER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT”

“What do you mean ´no one´?” Gou asked

“She means we can’t sleep either!” A voice came from the other side

“Renji?”

“Boys, you know I support you at 110% but we really need to sleep!” a female voice said next to him

“Kikuna?”

Finally, a soft knock came from the ground below them, and Ash’s Rotomphone ringed, he read the text message he just received aloud.

“Boys, you know too well the Institute’s walls are quite thin, so you should keep your nightly activities to a minimum, please

Sakuragi”

“Sorry!” Gou shouted “We won’t do that again!”

The couple received a few ‘okay’ for all response and they tried to remain silent for the rest of the night.

But they were so in love with each other, they just couldn’t help it, so after a few seconds, they were kissing each other furiously once again, Gou smooched the place on Ash’s neck that he knew he liked it, and Ash laughed once more.

“FOR ARCEUS SAKE, GET A BIGGER ROOM!” Koharu shouted, covering her ears...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I wasn't really inspired today, I hope you liked the reading tho.  
> See you tomorrow, I hope!


	22. Day 22: A Perfect Picture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of you asking: Yes, I'm gonna write longer fics, eventually, but not right now, okay?...  
> Haruka, I just read your message, idea in consideration! :)  
> For now, enjoy this!

Sakuragi took a long look inspecting the picture he had taken a few seconds ago.

“Raboot’s not smiling” he said, unsurprisingly

Gou kneeled in front of his Pokemon and said

“Come on Raboot, I’m not asking for a big smile, but at least try not to frown” he pleaded

The Pokemon huffed, clearly uninterested by the activity he was currently engaged on.

“Don’t make me use my secret weapon” the boy warned, and Raboot looked away, pretending not to know what he meant

The researcher started to scratch behind his ears and Raboot blushed furiously

“We are ready” Gou said and after a few seconds, the Professor took another picture

However, the problem was different this time

“Renji, Magnemite blinked!” the Professor complained

While the blonde haired man explained to his Pokemon how important this picture was, Ash started to jump up and down, uncomfortable

“How long we have to wait?” he said aloud and the woman at his side let out a little giggle

“Until the Professor can take a good picture of all of us” Kikuna commented “We need a new promotional photo for the Institute, remember?”

“I know” the boy replied “But this is so boring!”

“This won’t take long” Gou interrupted him, taking his hand “Just relax, we’ll be done soon”

Ash blushed at the contact, and Sakuragi took another picture

“Riolu, what are you doing?” he shouted

The Emanation Pokemon was shouting at Koharu’s Yamper, obviously perceiving him as some kind of opponent. Their trainers separated the creatures and the Professor activated the camera once again.

“Koharu, now you’re the one frowning!”

“I don’t understand why I have to do this” she said, crossing her arms

“You’re part of the Institute now, whether you like it or not” Gou said and the girl looked away, not wanting to admit her friend was right

“You should be in the picture too, Dad” the girl commented and her father denied with his head

“I want to focus on my researchers, not on myself Koharu. And Gou’s right, you need to be in the picture, too”

“Let’s just finish this once and for all” she said, while her father took another picture

“Hey, where’s my hat?” Ash said, looking back

*click*

“Gengar has it” Sakuragi explained, looking at the hat floating away from Ash’s head in the newest picture

“Give it back!” the trainer shouted, adjusting his hat and looking at Gengar

The Pokemon apologized and the Professor questioned:

“Are we ready now?”

“Yes!”

A second later, Ash and Gou were taken by a pair of strong arms, Pikachu and Raboot jumped away, annoyed by the sudden movement and the new picture got completely ruined once again.

“Let us go!” Gou shouted “Dragonite, please!”

The Dragon Pokemon kept hugging the couple, forcing them to come closer to each other.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if right now Dragonite says ‘now kiss’” Koharu commented, and Renji and Kikuna laughed

Dragonite, however, thought that was a good idea, and pushed the boys towards each other once again, forcing them to share a kiss

*click*

“Hey, don’t take a picture of that!” Gou shouted, his face completely red

“Sorry, my finger slipped” Sakuragi said, and his daughter noticed he was totally lying

Kikuna took a look at the Professor’s phone and said:

“It is a very cute photo, though”

“Yeah, but it looks too forced” the Professor said “You two should look a little bit more natural, guys”

“You’re not gonna use us!” Gou said, looking away

“I wouldn’t mind to have picture kissing you” Ash casually commented, and the other boy realized he couldn’t say no to that cute little face

“Fine…” he gave in, still embarrassed

A few minutes later, and after a bit more preparation, Sakuragi took yet another picture.

The scene depicted couldn’t be more perfect:

On one side, Azumarrill was resting on Kikuna’s feet, the woman had her head placed above Renji’s shoulder, and Magnemite was floating behind him. Koharu was at his right, holding Yamper in her arms with a big smile on her face.

On the other side, Pikachu was perched on Ash’s shoulder, Raboot was resting against Gou’s ankles and Gengar and Dragonite were floating behind them, with Riolu sitting above the flying Pokemon’s head.

As for Ash and Gou, they were holding hands, with their eyes closed and sharing a long, deep kiss, their faces equally as red

At the bottom of the picture, there was a statement:

FIND KNOWLEDGE, FIND ADVENTURE, AND FIND LOVE!

COME TO SAKURAGI INSTITUTE TODAY!

“Posted!” Sakuragi shouted “Excellent picture, everyone!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More ideas? Comments? Suggestions?  
> 8 Days left, and considering no one know when the anime will be back, I believe I'm gonna have to start another 30 days pretty soon, don't you think, readers?  
> See you tomorrow!


	23. Day 23: Snowstorm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> LOTS LIKE REALLY TONS OF IMPOSSIBLE, UNENDING, STRESSFUL WORK  
> But for now, I can write, I can relax  
> And you should enjoy this night, because once again, it's 3 fics for the price of 1

The snowstorm was raging outside the cave, and Gou closed his eyes, he knew very well how they ended up in this situation, and he expressed his concerns aloud

“This is my fault” he said, a bit of steam coming out of his mouth

Ash, sitting at his side, denied with his head

“Of course it’s not; I was the one who told you this place was perfect to catch Snorunts and Glalies”

“And I was stupid enough to blindly follow your advice” Gou said

“Don’t worry” Ash commented, putting a hand on the other boy’s shoulder “Raboot and Pikachu will be back with help soon”

Gou went silent, so the Pallet Town trainer insisted:

“They have to be back soon”

None of them said another thing, but after a few minutes, Gou started to shudder, Ash crawled to him and wrapped his arms around his body

Gou tried to say something, but he was unable to. He knew the end could come at any second, they were both about to die from hypothermia and still, he hadn’t had the courage to confess his feelings for the raven haired boy, he shuddered again, and the other boy tightened his grip around him.

“Your body is so delicate” the trainer said out of nowhere

“I’m not a girl, Ash” Gou said, slightly offended by the comment

“I didn’t mean it like that” Ash quickly corrected himself “What I was trying to say is that you’re so soft… I like how you feel”

“Thanks…” Gou muttered and closing his eyes, he added “I like how you feel, too”

“They’ll be back” Ash said, and Gou realized he was back to talking about their Pokemon “Anytime soon…”

“How can you be so hopeful?” he questioned

“How can you not?” Ash countered “We need to believe we’ll get out of this, there’s a whole world outside, still waiting for both of us to explore it”

“Even if we survive, I doubt after this, you still want to explore any place with me”

“Once again Gou, it wasn’t your fault” Ash replied “And yes, I’d like very much to keep exploring with you”

“Really?”

“Of course, it’s been a lot of fun exploring with you”

For all response, Gou hugged Ash and both of them stayed there, enjoying the sensation.

To Gou, Ash’s arms were like a fortress, a safe haven, a castle that surrounded him and protected him against any danger, he wished Ash could hug him forever, that way; he wouldn’t have to worry about anything else anymore…

To Ash, hugging Gou felt like a whole different, unique experience, he seemed so soft and insecure outside, but once he got to know him, he discovered he was so brave and decisive, he was different than any other boy, and Ash wished he could find the right word to express how the Vermillion City boy made him feel…

They stayed in place, eyes closed, breathing calmly, wrapped around each other, not paying any attention to the snowstorm outside their little world

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” Koharu shouted

Ash and Gou woke up startled, taking off their Virtual Reality headsets

“You pair of idiots fall asleep during a simulation?” the girl complained, with both Kikuna and Renji laughing behind her

“The world is really immersive” Gou said, and Ash nodded

“That can’t be possible” Renji commented

“There is no snow, no cold, and no storms inside this room” Kikuna added

“It felt pretty convincing to me” Ash said and without saying another word, he exited the room, perhaps a bit too quickly

Gou was about to do the same, but Koharu’s voice interrupted him:

“Really immersive world, huh?” she said “Are you sure the ‘immersive’ wasn’t Ash’s hug?”

Gou blushed furiously and murmured:

“I have no idea what you are talking about” he commented, rushing out of the room

“For a second I thought…” Kikuna said

“They were going to confess with each other, I know” Koharu commented

“I guess it’s just a matter of time”


	24. Day 24: Lots And Lots Of Hugs

When Gladion reached the meeting point, just at the bottom of Wela Volcano, he raised an eyebrow

“What are all of you doing here?”

“Let me guess” Clemont said, adjusting his glasses “Ash called you too, right?”

The other trainer nodded, his expression unreadable as always

“He said he needed to tell me something really important” Kiawe intervened

“And since you two and I are from Alola and he’s around for the time being, this would be the perfect place” Sophocles added

“Not for me” Brock commented “You know how much things I left undone back home just for Ash?”

“I can imagine” Tracey said “But come on, it’s Ash, and we _have_ to help him, whatever it is that he needs”

“He would do the same for us” Gladion admitted, nodding

“I think it’s quite curious, however” Cilan said, finally involving in the conversation “What could be so important for Ash, that it requires the assistance of all of us?”

The other boys pondered the question for a moment, but none of them had a convincing answer. As if on cue, a few meters away from them, a boy shouted:

“Guys! Guys, I’m here!”

Ash Ketchum came running at full speed towards them and stopped, not even sweating

“Hi everyone” he said, with his characteristic smile

“Late as always, Ash” Gladion said, chuckling a little

For all response, Ash threw himself towards him and hugged him tightly. Gladion froze in place and looked at the rest of the boys; all of them had the same strange expression on their faces.

After a few seconds, Ash let go of him and commented

“No”

“No?” Gladion said “I should be the one saying that, you know very well I’m not a fan of, let’s just say, expressing emotions, Ash”

The trainer put a hand under his chin and replied

“It’s just… I thought…”

“Ash… what are you thinking?” Brock said, coming closer to the trainer

Ash turned around and hugged him too, the other boy chuckled and patted Ash’s back

“Your arms are just too strong” Ash said, letting him go

“Thanks… I guess?” Brock replied, unable to understand what was going on

“At least can you explain to us what are you trying to do?” Kiawe asked, only to receive a hug seconds later, he tried to wrap his arms around Ash’s body, but he let him go a little bit quicker

“I mean, it feels nice, but not _that_ nice”

“Compared to what?”

“I had this hypothesis…” Ash explained, and went completely silent again

“Where did you learn that word?” Sophocles asked

“Professor Sakuragi” Ash simply replied, before hugging his other Alolan friend

Sophocles, visibly uncomfortable, was the one who broke the hug, and Ash simply commented

“You’re just too short!”

“How is that my fault?” the boy replied, frowning and wondering what the hell was on Ash’s mind

Without saying anything else, Ash wrapped his arms around Tracey’s body. The young artist returned the gesture and Ash simply whispered:

“Are you’re just too tall”

“I’m lost here, Ash” the other boy replied “I don’t even know what you want from us!”

A second later, Ash quickly jumped towards Clemont and hugged him tightly, almost losing balance in the process. The blonde-haired boy blushed profusely at the action, but managed to return the hug, Ash stayed a bit longer with him, but when they finally separated, the boy from Pallet Town had the same disappointed expression on his face

“It’s just not the same…”

“Compared to what?” Clemont insisted, mirroring Kiawe’s words

“I believe the correct expression would be compared to whom…” Cilan said, and Ash immediately hugged him too

“Am I that easy to read?” he questioned

“You’re unpredictable, Ash Ketchum” the other boy replied

Ash buried his head on Cilan’s chest and whispered

“Something’s not right”

“My hugs are missing an ingredient, don’t they?” the green-haired commented

“You could say that…”

“Or maybe _his_ hugs are spicier than all of us combined”

Ash broke the contact and looking to Cilan’s eyes, questioned

“How do you know it’s a boy?”

“Well, you didn’t invite any girls here today…”

“Oh…”

The other boy simply grinned, happy to discover what Ash really wanted from them.

“So you forced us to come all the way here” Gladion interrupted “Because you wanted a hug?”

“It’s just… For a moment I thought feeling fine hugging people would be natural, and it feels fine with you guys, I swear!”

“But…” Brock said

“But it feels even nicer when I hug him” Ash confessed

Before anyone could ask who he was talking about, he continued

“I had so much fun with all of you these last few years, and I love every single one of you, but not in the same way I love him…”

He stopped, looking at the blush in every single one of his friend’s faces

“What?” he asked

“I’ve know you longer than everyone else here, Ash” Brock explained “And you never used the word ‘love’ in your life”

“Never?” Ash questioned

“Never” everyone else confirmed, at the same time

“I don’t know if I should have said that, then” Ash commented

“Why not?” Clemont said

“Everyone says boys don’t talk about feelings, and crushes, and all of that stuff”

“Ok, first of all” Clemont interrupted “Who says that?”

“Everyone on the internet” the trainer replied

“You shouldn’t listen to strangers in the internet” Brock paternally said, and Ash nodded

“Forget about that” Gladion cut him off “More importantly, do you have a crush on someone, Ash?”

“His name is Gou” the trainer said, with a little blush on his face

“Tell us more” Gladion said

“I thought you weren’t a fan of expressing emotions” Ash replied, chuckling

“I’m not made of stone”

“Now tell us!” Kiawe insisted

“Yeah! Tell us!” Everyone else chanted

And that afternoon, Ash told them pretty much everything…


	25. Day 25: Tech Support

“Could you repeat that again?” Nineteen years old Ash Ketchum asked to his boyfriend

“My parents got a job at Silph Co. They’ll be developing some new software for them for the next six months and I…”

Ash raised an eyebrow, not understanding why Gou looked so unsure to continue

“I want to go with them” he completed “It’s just, they’ll have access to practically every research of the Company, and I know they’ve been investigating Mew for decades and…”

“You should go, then” Ash commented suddenly

“Really?” Gou asked “Are you not mad?”

“Why would I be?”

“Because I’m leaving you! And just to…”

Ash grabbed the other boy by the shoulders and commented

“Just to do what you need to do to achieve your dream, Gou. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine”

“You will?”

“Of course” Ash admitted “I’m happy for you Gou, you’re gonna take a huge step towards your dream, they’ll be some hard six months but I’m sure we can arrange something, calls, videochat, that sort of things…”

“About that” Gou claimed, rubbing the back of his head “The company is closed to the public, and the employees are pretty much isolated from the rest of the world”

“Six months without contact, then?” Ash said, his voice trembling a little

“The contract could extend… It could be a year”

“Oh”

Both boys went silent, but Ash closed his eyes and decided he had to say something

“You have to go; it’s your dream after all”

Ash hugged him and Gou smiled, feeling the warm body of his boyfriend pressed against his always soothed him in just a matter of seconds.

Another thing he noticed was the little sob coming from his boyfriend’s mouth

“Tell me to stay” he whispered into Ash’s ear, without breaking the hug “And you know I will”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to be with me… And I want to be with you”

“I can wait for you Gou” Ash simply said

“For a whole year?”

“For a million years”

“Don’t exaggerate!” Gou said, chuckling

Ash kissed his cheek and the other teen smiled at the contact.

“So…” Gou said “Since tonight is all we have left”

“For now” Ash interrupted him

“What do you want to do?”

“I have an idea” the Pallet Town Champion said, taking off his shirt

When the sun rise on the horizon and Gou’s parents came to take his son, the couple said goodbye to each other with a simple, sweet kiss on the cheek. None of them said a word, there was no need for that, and they could see the hope to see each other reflected in their eyes.

When the car drove away, Ash stayed outside the institute for a few hours, hoping that maybe, maybe he would come back

Of course it didn’t happen…

Gou couldn’t imagine working at Silph Co. would be so… boring.

He spent the first month researching everything he could about Mew on the Company servers, but of course, all of that information wasn’t free.

Just like their parents, he had to work for Silph Co. And that was the worst part of the whole deal.

Since he didn’t have the knowledge of his parents, they put him to work for Tech Support. He spent countless hours receiving calls of people that were too stupid to understand the problem and too stubborn to accept the advices of an eighteen year-old boy.

There was no running freely in forests and swimming in rivers, no camping under a full moonlight, no eating delicacies from other regions and of course, there was no one to hug when night came.

Cinderace took upon himself to hug and cuddle with his trainer every time he saw him sad (Thank Arceus there let him bring one Pokemon) but he knew very well there was no way he could replace Ash

Gou made a mistake, and now, stuck in that place for the next nine months, he realized it was too late to change his mind…

“Another nightmarish morning taking calls” Gou said to himself as soon as the phone in his desk rang

“Hello, thank you for calling Silph Co. Tech Support, my name is Gou, how can I help you today?”

“Hello Gou, I’m having a problem” The man on the other side of the line said, and the teen silently thanked that, for once, the client didn’t make a comment about how weird his name was

“What kind of problem, sir?” Gou said

“I seem to have misplaced my pfffftt and I can’t find it anywhere” the man at the other side said, and for a moment, Gou thought he knew that voice, still, he focused on the task at hand and asked

“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t understand, you misplaced your what?”

“My pfffft” the man said

“Your what?” Gou insisted

“My pfffft!” the man repeated

Gou checked the status line for a moment and frowned, everything was working fine, and he should be able to understand what the client was saying

“Sir, do you have any kind of speech impediment?” he asked with as much courtesy as he could

“Nah, I just miss my boyfriend a lot” the man said, his voice much clearer this time

Gou opened his eyes as big as plates

“You have no idea how much time it took me to figure out where you were working”

“Ash” Gou whispered into the phone, blushing “What the hell are you doing?”

“Told you, I miss my boyfriend, the thing is, when they told me you were working at Tech Support,

I had to make calls over and over again, because the operator is chosen….

“Randomly, I know” Gou completed

“Sakuragi is going to kill me the moment he sees the phone bill” Ash commented, and Gou laughed

After a few seconds, the Tech Support guy rushed into the keyboard and pressed a few commands as fast as he could, he checked the code over and over again

“Are you still there?” Ash questioned

“I’m here” Gou claimed “I was just putting you on a list of sorts; every time you call the system will redirect you right to me”

“You’re so smart” Ash said, and Gou blushed furiously

“And you’re so unpredictable”

“I should get going now” Ash sadly said “I spent the last two hours making calls and hanging up as soon as I noticed it wasn’t you”

“Before you go” Gou interrupted “You have to rate the service, sir”

“Five stars, ten out of ten” Ash said “Although I’m sure I’m gonna have a problem with this… (he doubted for a second, and Gou realized he was trying to get into character) machine tomorrow”

“Any specific time, sir?”

“After lunch?”

“I’ll be waiting, sir”

“I love you, tech support guy”

“I love you too, unknown client”

CALL FINISHED

Gou threw himself back into his chair and realized that right now and for the next nine months, he was gonna love this job…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Venting my frustrations with a fic?  
> Oh, how original...  
> Hope you have a lot of comments and ideas for me, readers! I'd love to see what ideas you come up with!  
> See you tomorrow! :)


	26. Day 26: Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I know I still owe you yesterday's chapter but I'm really trying to fix some things in my day to day life...  
> In the meantime, enjoy this one, readers!

“I missed you” Ash Ketchum said in the middle of the night

His new best friend and research fellow opened his eyes and asked:

“What?”

“Sorry for waking you up” the trainer quickly replied “It was nothing, Gou”

The other boy huffed and Ash heard the sound of sheets moving, after a few seconds, the Vermillion City boy showed his face from above and repeated:

“What did you say?”

“Nothing, just go back to sleep”

The boy stared at his crush’s face for a few more seconds, making sure he wasn’t going to say anything else, and then returned to his bed

“I said I missed you” Ash finally confessed

Gou chuckled

“I was only away for one day”

“Still… I missed you” Ash said once again and Gou silently thanked he couldn’t see his blush

“Can I know why?”

“I’m used to having you around, after all this time”

“All this time?” Gou questioned “We’ve known each other for less than four months, Ash!”

“I know that!” the other boy quickly responded “It’s just, I couldn’t focus today, I couldn’t do anything, because all I could think about was ‘what is Gou doing? ‘ ”

“The thing I explained you a thousand times I was doing, helping my parents with a side project, no big deal”

“I think I need you around” Ash said, lowering his voice, still Gou heard him

Another blush invaded Gou’s features; he smiled a little and commented

“Why is that?”

“I’m not really sure” the trainer replied, intertwining his fingers “I guess I don’t like being alone”

“Oh” Gou said and his smile transformed into a frown “You could have called any of your friends, I’m sure they’d be a better company than me”

“Don’t say those things!”

“Why not?”

“Because they can’t be compared to you” Ash commented and Gou smiled again “I told you I need _you_ around, remember?”

Gou gulped and asked a question, knowing too well he could be jeopardizing his friendship with the most awesome person he ever met

“You need me around, or you need me… close?”

“Is there a difference?” Ash asked, oblivious as always

“Well…” Gou said, hanging to the edge of the bed and looking directly as his crush “Right now, I’m around you”

He leapt from his bed and landed in the floor with a loud sound, he quickly got up and Ash smiled at him, in only four months he acquired quite an athletic body.

Gou sat right beside his soon-to-be boyfriend and whispered

“And now, I’m close to you…”

“Is there any way to have you closer?” Ash asked, and Gou’s entire body trembled with excitement, he got in the same bed as his crush and Ash covered his nervous body with the sheets

Gou looked down, and the raven haired trainer said:

“If you’re feeling uncomfortable…”

“I’m not!” Gou interrupted “It’s just… I’ve never been _this close_ to someone…”

“How do you feel?”

“And you?”

“I asked you first, Gou”

“Fine… It feels, familiar, but weird at the same time”

“I’m weird?” Ash asked, pretending to be offended

“You’re the one who wanted to be closer, remember?” Gou countered

“It’s not my fault you’re so likeable!”

“What?” Gou shouted and immediately covered his face

“Yep, that’s what I said; you’re a likeable person, Gou”

“T-than-k y-you… I I l-l-like…”

The Vermillion City boy couldn’t finish the phrase, and covered his face with his hands, embarrassed.

He mentally scolded himself, he couldn’t keep being such a coward, he had to confess, it wasn’t like he was going to say he _loved_ him, the word was similar, but he could leave the romantic talk for another night.

Gou took a deep breath, opened his eyes and said:

“I like you too, Ash”

The other boy’s response was a loud snore and Gou bit his lip

He was going to leave the confession for another night

For now, this was enough…

However, it wasn’t enough for Ash, opening his eyes, the trainer took Gou by the waist and forced him to come even closer to him, he snuggled his neck and Gou let out a laugh, a mixture of nervousness and uncertainty invading his body.

“Closer feels so nice” Ash whispered

“It really does” Gou concurred

A wave of bravery invaded the researcher’s body and he placed a quick, dry kiss on Ash’s forehead, the boy opened his eyes and Gou tried to explain himself:

“Since we are so close to each other, I thought…”

Ash didn’t say anything and Gou thought that was a mistake on his part

“I thought you’d like it, sorry”

“I liked it” Ash said, grinning from ear to ear “Do it again, please”

He placed another kiss on Ash’s forehead, this time, the contact lasted for a bit longer and the trainer let out a little giggle

“Can I have another one?” Ash meekly asked and Gou quickly kissed his forehead once more

“You don’t have to kiss me always in the same place, Gou”

Gou kissed Ash’s nose and this time, the boy laughed louder, before he could ask for more, Gou attacked his temple, and then his nose again, he went for his left cheek, his right one, the left again and when he tried to kiss his chin, Ash made a sudden movement, and the boy ended up kissing him somewhere else.

Gou noticed this new place wasn’t dry as the rest of Ash’s face, it was also much softer, and it tasted like a really sweet pinap smoothie.

When he realized he was kissing Ash’s lips, he quickly broke the kiss, scared.

“Sorry…” he muttered “I didn’t mean to…”

“I did” Ash quickly replied

And before Gou’s brain processed what the other boy meant, Ash was kissing him (on the lips, of course) again…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments or ideas?  
> See you tomorrow!


	27. Day 27: Come Dance With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! A single solo chapter today, I promise a double tomorrow! Thanks for the idea Haruka!  
> (I'm this close to coming back to writing regularly, so thanks for your support!)  
> Enjoy!

“I need your help” Gou said, looking at Koharu and handing her a piece of paper

“Vermillion City Dance Festival?” she said aloud

“I really want to ask Ash to go with me” the boy shyly explained

“You don’t know how to dance” his childhood friend replied

“I know, that’s why I need your help”

The girl raised an eyebrow and Gou gulped, continuing:

“I know you’re gonna mock me and laugh at me, I can take your jokes, I just need…”

She got up and put a hand on his shoulder, silencing him

“I don’t have a heart of stone, Gou” she commented with a smile “Of course I’m gonna help you”

“What’s your price?”

“Just make sure to have a good time with him, okay?”

The boy nodded, and Koharu added:

“And it would be nice if you manage to finally confess to him, you know?”

“I don’t have any plans for that”

Koharu stared at her friend’s face for a few seconds, and Gou finally admitted

“Okay, I may have a plan for that…”

“Great, now let’s begin before Ash comes back and tries to figure out what the hell are you doing dancing with me”

“Don’t worry about that, he’ll be on Alola for a few days, Professor Burnet needed his help with something”

“You should really stop listening to other people’s conversations” Koharu sternly said

“Just teach me how to dance” Gou replied, huffing

Actually, Burnet didn’t need Ash’s help, but it was the other way around.

“Could you repeat that again, please?” the woman asked, surprise evident in her voice

“I said I want to learn to dance” Ash said

Burnet and her husband stopped eating their lunch and stared at the Pallet Town trainer, even his Alolan Pokemon were staring at him

“What?” he said, raising his arms “It’s not a big deal!”

“It is coming from you” Kukui replied and his wife nodded

“You never liked dancing” she commented

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know how to dance”

“That’s why I need your help!” Ash claimed

“But why tho?” the woman insisted

“There’s this friend of mine, he’s been talking about a Dancing Festival all week, and I know he really wants to go, and I don’t want to let him down and I… Burnet, stop that!” Ash shouted, looking at the woman, who was smiling with tears in her eyes

“My baby boy is growing up!” she said, getting up and hugging the trainer

“You already got a baby!” Ash said and Kukui chuckled

“You’ll always be my baby boy, Ash” she replied “Now let’s go, I have a lot of things to teach you!”

“Now? I haven’t finished my food!”

“And you won’t! You need to be in a fit shape for your date!”

“It’s not a date” Ash said, but his blush betrayed him

Raboot seemed to have an unusual interest in Koharu’s lessons; he stared at the girl and his trainer for hours on no end and finally decided to join the fun. He approached the boy and gently touched him in the back.

Gou turned around and Raboot noticed he was panting, clearly exhausted due to the lessons.

The fire type looked at the boy and extended his palm towards him.

“You want to help him too?” Koharu questioned

Raboot nodded eagerly and proceeded to improvise some quick break-dance moves

“I can’t do that!” Gou complained

“Ra-Ra-Raboot!” the creature replied, clapping his hands

“If you think so…” Gou said, trying to imitate his friend

“You’re gonna be just fine Gou, believe me” Koharu commented

“I don’t have any rhythm” Ash confessed after Burnet started to twirl around with him

“I don’t think that’s a problem” the woman said

“That’s like… half of what dancing is suppose to be” the trainer complained

“You know what the other half is?” she questioned, and the young boy denied with his head

Ash felt a pat on his back and turned around. Kukui was standing there, in an impeccable new white suit

“May I have this dance with my wife?” he asked and Ash stepped away

The couple joined hands and started to twirl around the sand, at a very slow pace, Ash stared at them, amazed

“One two three, One two three” Kukui explained “The most important part of dancing is having a partner you can trust”

“One two three, One two three” Burnet continued “And it doesn’t matter how simple or complicated your moves can be, as long as you try to have a good time with him, I’m sure he’ll appreciate the gesture”

“One two three, One two three” Ash repeated, moving his feet “Can I try it?”

“Of course” Kukui said, stepping away

The night of the dance finally came and after a really awkward moment when they tried to invite each other to the Festival, Ash and Gou found each other in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by many other couples.

A soft music invaded the area, and both boys took a deep breath

“Well, here we are” Gou said

“Ready to dance?” Ash questioned

They both intertwined their fingers and as soon as they took the first step, Ash stepped on Gou’s right foot.

“Sorry” he said, moving away and starting to sweat

“Don’t worry” Gou whispered, stepping on Ash’s left foot “That wasn’t on purpose, I swear!”

“My time to say don’t wo…”

They were so uncoordinated that somehow, both of them ended up wrapping their feet around each other, and falling to the ground.

“I thought I could learn…” Gou said, looking at Ash from above

“Me too! But I always stepped on Burnet! And it was even worse when I danced with Kukui!” Ash replied

“I’m pretty sure Koharu hates me for stepping so any times on her! And I tried to imitate Raboot but I almost hurt my back!”

Both boys got up and looked at each other with a saddened expression

“You must think I’m a failure…” Ash whispered

“Of course not! You tried so hard, I’m sorry you have such an idiotic partner as me” Gou responded, looking down

“Don’t say those things, I wanted to dance with you, and no one else”

“Really?”

Ash nodded and hugged Gou

“This is not dancing but… I could hug you until the song ends, if it makes you feel any better”

“Hugging feels nice” Gou said, kissing Ash’s cheek

The other boy laughed and let go of him for a moment, they stared at each other’s faces again, and wiped each other’s tears away, unable to confess their true feelings, they simply hugged again.

Burnet and Kukui were watching the scene from afar and smiled, bumping each other’s fists.

“You must be Ash’s dance teachers” Koharu said, appearing behind them, with Raboot walking by her side

“And you two must be Gou’s teachers” Kukui replied

The girl nodded in response and asked

“It was impossible, right?”

“Yep” Burnet replied “Ash doesn’t know how to dance at all, and I doubt he’ll ever be able to learn”

“Gou’s exactly the same” Koharu agreed

“They’re perfect for each other” Kukui concluded

The two ladies and the fire type Pokemon couldn’t agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments will be hugely appreciated!  
> Also, I have ideas ready for the next edition of 30 days! The ideas for the first two weeks are already drafted, but any new ideas will be welcomed!  
> See you tomorrow guys!


	28. Day 28: Laser Tagged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poke-Trainer suggested some laser-tag shenanigans, and since I never played laser tag in my life, here’s my best shot! (No pun intended)  
> Enjoy!

“Gotcha!” Ash shouted excitedly

“Damn you Ash!” A girl voice replied

 _Player Misty has three lives left_ an electronic voice announced. Of course the idea of spending the night at the new Laser Tag game house was Ash’s, but everyone was so on board with it, he couldn’t be more happy

Well, almost everyone was excited…

“Come out; come out, wherever you are!” Koharu shouted, her voice echoing between the hallways of the Laser Tag maze

“You can’t hide forever, Gou!” Gary Oak screamed and the boy from Vermillion City silently cursed his boyfriend for the idea for his latest escapade.

“You promised this was going to be fun, Ash!” Gou finally said aloud

From not so far, came the response

“A Kantonian Laser Tag Challenge! This is fun!”

“He’s right!” Brock commented “I don’t remember when was the last time I felt so excit… DAMN!”

_Player Brock has two lives left_

Misty tried to mock her victim, only to be shot by Ash once more

_Player Misty has two lives left_

“I’m not excited!” Gou replied, jumping between some boxes and noticing a shadow following him closely “I’m panicking!”

“I can see that” his chaser said behind him “That only makes this even funnier”

Gou couldn’t define this experience as fun at all, rushing through the maze, with that plastic vest tightly wrapped around his chest, being aware of the ever-present shadow of Koharu over his shoulders, sweating and panting with each passing second

PING!

_Player Gou has one life left_

Also, his childhood friend had a near-perfect aim

Finally, a salvation appeared in front of him in the form of a crack of one of the walls, he slipped his slim body through it and found himself completely locked up, with no way out.

Suddenly a hand came out of nowhere and Koharu managed to grab him by the collar.

The boy immediately froze in place, his mind invaded by a flashback

“Get back here, you little…!” The girl shouted with a laugh

She was having a great time, but Gou on the other hand…

“You can’t hide in there forever!” Koharu complained, passing her arm through the crack and shooting a glare at her friend

“I can try!” Gou replied, pushing her hand away

And Gou prepared for the worst, he closed his eyes and his memory wandered to a day way behind, very well hidden in his past…

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Someone screamed at the top of his lungs and all Gou heard was laughing and complaints from the girl

“You shall not pass!” Ash shouted, shooting at his friends

After a few seconds, a new, different hand passed through the crack, and Gou heard a familiar voice

“You can come out now, you’re safe”

However, the other boy didn’t move and after a few seconds, Ash passed through the crack and approached his boyfriend, gently touching his cheek

“Everything okay?”

Gou didn’t respond, but as soon as he saw the tears in his eyes, Ash knew nothing was okay at all; he hugged the boy and whispered

“Are you hurt?”

“No…”

“Did Gary tell you something inappropriate? He can be so competitive sometimes”

“I’m nothing like that, you fucking moron!” the boy shouted from outside and Gou chuckled for a moment

“Let’s go back to play, okay?” Ash offered, but Gou denied with his head once more, he sat on the floor and Ash mirrored his movements

“What is it Gou? Come on, tell me please” the trainer insisted

“It’s just… When Koharu was chasing me, I remembered something that happened on my first day of school”

Ash took his boyfriend’s hand and guided his head towards his chest, showing him that whatever it was, he could took about it, so Gou continued

“A couple of boys made fun of my name and chased me through the hallways and...”

“I can imagine the rest” Ash said, deepening the hug “But you don’t have to fear Gou, we are all friends here”

“Tell that to my stupid mind” the boy coldly replied

“Your mind isn’t stupid” the trainer commented, kissing Gou’s cheek “Your mind is brilliant”

“I just… don’t want to play anymore” the researcher said, getting up

“That’s fine too, let’s not play anymore”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If you don’t play, then I won’t either”

“Ash, this was your idea, I’m not gonna ruin your fun, go outside and play” Gou replied, getting out of his little safe place, followed by his boyfriend

“Ah!” Ash shouted

_Player Ash has three lives left_

Gou turned around, trying to see who could have such an aim to shoot Ash so quickly…

Only to see his boyfriend holding up his gun towards his chest

“What are you doing?”

Ash shot himself again

_Player Ash has two lives left_

“Playing the game, and losing” Ash explained, shooting again

_Player Ash has one life left_

“So, want to get the hell out of here and eat some pizza?” the trainer questioned, aiming at his boyfriend’s chest

“Sure” Gou replied picking up his gun and ready to shoot too

PING!

PING!

_Players Ash and Gou have no lives left_

The rest of the players wondered what the hell happened, while the couple simply exited the maze, hand in hand…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't help but notice this story is so close to reach a 100 comments! Than you everyone, from the bottom of my heart! :)  
> Also, sorry, but no double chapter tonight! It was a long long day  
> See you tomorrow everyone!


	29. Day 29: Possessed!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Spooky music*  
> ooooooooo enjoy!

“Ash, Gou, I need to talk with both of you” Sakuragi said one morning

“What’s going on, Professor?” the Pallet Town trainer asked, smiling as always

“A new phenomenon to investigate?” Gou questioned, curious as always

The man’s stern expression forced both boys to remain silent, he pressed a button on his desk and a holographic screen appeared in front of the three of them

“You could say I’ve been investigating a phenomenon of sorts last night, they were noises and shouting all around the institute, so I ordered my Rotomphone to follow the noise and record as much as he could”

“Really? I didn’t hear anything…” Ash commented

“Care to explain this, guys?” Sakuragi replied in response

The image could not be clearer, Ash and Gou, running in the park in the middle of the night, shouting and waking their Pokemon up.

“Those are not…” Gou said

“It’s not over yet” Sakuragi interrupted

The camera then showed them running around the park, playfully hugging and smiling at each other. Both boys blushed when they realized how close their faces were, however, none of them could remember such an event happening last night.

Ash and Gou then started to laugh frenetically; they ran towards the institute and decided to throw apples towards Koharu’s window, and running away as soon as she woke up

“What’s up with you, pair of idiots?” the girl said, shaking her head in disbelief at the recording and appearing behind them

“Koharu, that’s not us!” Ash complained

“Oh, really, then who are those two idiots who look exactly like you two, idiots?” she replied with sarcasm

“It could be a shape shifter” Gou hypothesized “Or even a Zoroark using its Illusion Ability”

“Who would shape shift exactly like you two?” Kikuna asked, joining the conversation

“Besides, Zoroark’s Illusions doesn’t work on electronic devices, it’s been proven years ago” Renji added

The boys stared at the blonde man’s face, his eyes, cheeks and mouth were painted with permanent marker and the researcher complained:

“Don’t you dare saying you don’t know who did this”

Ash and Gou looked at each other, and then commented:

“We don’t know who did that”

“Oh, really?” Sakuragi questioned, showing them another recording

This time, the boys entered Renji’s room and between laughs, spent ten minutes painting the walls, his clothes, and his bed. When they finally seemed satisfied with the results, Ash touched Gou’s shoulder and pointed at the researcher’s face. Gou nodded excitedly and they attacked Renji’s face.

Once they were content with their mischief, they ran away, jumping and laughing at each other’s antics.

“You also spent the night consuming my whole stash!” Kikuna shouted with an angry expression

“Stash of what?” Ash questioned, raising his eyebrow

“Chocolate!” the woman replied, handing him a plastic bag filled with candy bar wrappings

“I swear, those are not us” Gou insisted “There has to be something on that tape that can prove our innocence!”

“This is the final recording of you two”

The new image showed the boys entering their room, clearly exhausted, however, before going to sleep, Ash took Gou by the shoulders and hugged him again, starting to dance around the room with him, Gou laughed at his attitude, accompanying his movements with an incredible coordination.

Finally, they both fell on top of each other and stayed in Ash’s bed, after a few seconds, they wrapped their arms around each other’s bodies.

Gou blushed profusely, he hadn’t been that close to Ash (he always wanted to, but he never had the courage to do such a thing)

As for the trainer, he smiled at the scene; Gou looked really cute sleeping in his arms, but he didn’t remember sharing such a sweet moment with him.

“I woke up in my own bed this morning” Gou said aloud

“Me too” Ash realized “And you weren’t around me at all”

“Something really weird it’s happening here” Gou mused, rewinding the recording and trying to hide the blush on his face

“You could just admit what happened” Koharu huffed “Those two are obviously you”

“Eureka!” the boy from Vermillion City shouted excitedly “Those two may look like us, but they’re not exactly us”

He stopped the recording at the moment where he and Ash were looking at each other and pointed at the faces of the two of them.

“Now that you mention it…” Sakuragi said

“Your eyes look different, Gou” Renji commented “That shade of red… you don’t look like that”

“Ash’s eyes look red too” Kikuna explained, confirming that something felt off

“But if those two are not you… then who are they?” Koharu questioned

Both researchers looked at the image again and reached a conclusion quickly. They knew all of their Pokemon very well, so it wasn’t a mystery to discover who the culprits behind that situation were.

“Misdreavus!” Gou shouted

“Gengar!” Ash screamed

They decided it was best to talk with their Pokemon in private, so Ash and Gou returned to their bedroom, followed closely by the two ghost-type Pokemon.

“Why did you do that?” Gou demanded, as soon as he closed the door

Gengar and Misdreavus looked at each other, ignoring the question

“Guys, please, we know about the whole possession-thing” Ash confirmed and the Pokemon looked down, embarrassed

Immediately, Misdreavus floated towards his trainer and started to tug his arms, meanwhile, Gengar started to twirl around and pointed at his ghost friend.

Ash and Gou took several minutes until they finally understood what the ghosts meant.

“All you want to do is hug Gengar, but you can’t do that because you don’t have arms” Gou said

“Mis…” the Screech Pokemon said, nodding

“And all ou want to do is dance with Misdreavus, but you can’t do that because your body is too big and his is too little, right?” Ash questioned

“Gen…” the Shadow Pokemon confirmed

“I’m glad you had fun” Gou chastised “But don’t do that again”

“Wait, Gou…” Ash interrupted “They didn’t do anything bad”

“Still… I don’t like the idea of being possessed”

“Me neither, but… It would be fun run around and do all those things… together” Ash muttered, a pink shade adorning his cheek

“Yeah… it would” Gou whispered, also blushing

“Gengar!” the Pokemon shouted, entering Ash’s body and shaking him violently

After a few seconds, the trainer opened his red eyes

“This is awesome!” he shouted

“Is that you?” Gou questioned

“Yeah!” Ash confirmed “Gengar is controlling me, but at the same time, I’m awake, it feels so great!”

Gou eyed his Pokemon for a second and asked

“Can you… do that too, Misdreavus?”

“Mis!” he shouted, entering Gou’s body

A few seconds later, both boys started to laugh, enjoying the new, strange feeling. Gengar and Misdreavus decided to test the limits of their new vessels and ran towards the wall of the bedroom.

“No!” Ash and Gou shouted at the same time

Instead of clashing into the wall, they both simply passed through it, floating towards the sky and descending into the ground in one swoop motion.

They took their hands, and hugged, and floated, and danced and laughed for hours on no end. When night finally fell, Gengar and Misdreavus decided they had enough fun, so Ash and Gou returned to the ground safely.

“Gen…” the Shadow Pokemon whispered inside Ash’s mind

“You want to try something else, Gengar? Sure, what is it?” the trainer questioned

For all response, Gengar-Ash took Misdreavus-Gou hands and smiled at him, he took a deep breath and caressed his cheek. Smiling, he took a step towards him and closed his eyes.

“Wait, Gengar, what are you doing?” Ash panicked

“Misdreavus, whatever this is, stop now!” Gou pleaded

A second after that, Ash clashed his lips against Gou’s own. He squeezed his back, not wanting to separate from him. Meanwhile, Gou did the same, enamored by the new sweet feeling invading his mind…

When they finally separated, Ash rubbed his arm, embarrassed

“I’m sorry…” he whispered “Gengar was controlling me”

“Yeah, I don’t know why Misdreavus did that” Gou said, blushing

“Geng!”

“Misd!”

Both boys turned around and stared at their ghost Pokemon, realizing both of them left their bodies just before the kiss.

“I guess it wasn’t them, then” Ash commented

“Yep, this was all our fault” Gou added

“Our fault? You mean you didn’t like it?”

“No! That’s not why I…”

“Wanna try again?” Ash interrupted

“Really?”

For all response, the trainer threw towards Gou’s arms, and the other boy received him with open arms, kissing him again

Gengar and Misdreavus looked at each other and smiled, floating away…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it guys! Comments and kudos are always appreciated :)  
> See you tomorrow, for the last, musical, emotional, heart-breaking chapter!


	30. Day 30/Finale: Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After exactly one month, this fic finally reaches it's ending.  
> It has been an adventure, thank you everyone, almost a hundred comments, two hundred kudos, more than 3.4K hits, you've made this amateur writer so happy!  
> Thank you, every single one of you, for your support in such a tremendous challenge!  
> Enjoy... The Curtain Call, ladies and gentleman!

Gou opened the room’s door slowly; he took a chair and sat down, staring at his sleeping crush. There were so many things he wanted to tell him and still, he remained silent for a few more seconds.

Finally, he took a plastic box out of his backpack

“I cooked this in the microwave” he said, opening the box and revealing a portion of Ash’s favorite stew “I thought a familiar smell could bring you back…”

The trainer didn’t reply and Gou approached him, touching his white face

“You have no idea how hard is seeing you like this, Ash. You’re not smiling, you’re not laughing, your body seems so fragile and cold, and you’ve lost your color…”

The researcher wiped the first of many tears that fell down his face and continued:

“I miss your color so much; I miss the happiness and joy you brought into my life…”

A figure moved on top of Ash’s bed. Gou extended his arms and picked up an awaken Pikachu.

“Pika…” he electric mouse muttered

“Sorry for waking you up, Pikachu” Gou sadly commented “It’s just… I still believe my voice can bring him back. It had that power, remember? My voice could make him lose focus and also gave him the willpower to do anything he wanted”

“Pika-Pikapi” the Pokemon agreed

“I’m trying anything I can think of, Ash…” Gou whispered, redirecting his sight towards his boyfriend “Everyone is, last night, Tapu Fini came and put some magical dust on your forehead”

He moved Ash’s hair away, staring at the pink spot in his face

“That doesn’t seem to be working, either”

Ash’s breath didn’t even hitch, but Gou pretended he could hear him, so he continued

“Lucario, Gengar, Intelleon, Dragonite and my Pokemon sent you their regards, again. They keep… you know, hoping, you’ll be able to get through this. You’ll be happy to know that they’re okay. I reached an agreement with Team Rocket, our Pokemon are off-limits for them for the time being, and Jessie even said that once you wake up, things will be normal again, so you should be prepared”

“I really hope she’s right, it’s all I want, for things to be normal again”

Gou squeezed the other boy’s hand, and fighting back the tears, kept talking

“I had a dream last night” he explained, his cheeks acquiring a deep shade of red “We were doing… things, things we aren’t suppose to be doing, we’re only sixteen after all. But… I do hope we can do those things together at some point in the future”

“Pika?” the electric Pokemon asked, curious

“I can’t say it aloud” Gou commented, biting his lip “It’s like really private”

Gou took a moment for himself and picked up his phone, calling Sakuragi Institute

“Any news?” the boy hopefully asked

Sakuragi denied with his head, saddened

“I’m sorry Gou, no new sightings… Tell Ash we’re trying our best, please”

The teen faked a smile and ended the call

“Did you hear that?” he commented “They’re trying, I swear, we want to find Jirachi, so I can ask him to bring you back…”

For a moment, he smiled

“Hopefully, you won’t even need Jirachi; you’ll be able to wake up on your own”

The researcher took his boyfriend’s hand and planted a soft kiss on it. It was so, so cold… He went silent for a few seconds, he needed that silence, he closed his eyes and pretended everything was fine.

He imagined he was silently watching Ash sleeping on his own bed, back at the Institute, like he used to do years ago. For a moment, he believed it.

But when he opened his eyes, he returned to that cruel reality.

“My Champion, everyone all over the world knows what you’re going through, every single one of them needs to see you back, battling, winning, cheering for your victories”

“Every single one of them needs you, but no one needs you more than me”

The Vermillion City native rummaged through his backpack once again, pulling out a Destiny Knot.

“Remember this?” he said, putting the knot in Ash’s hands “It’s our knot, it’s our destiny, please, remember that we are fated to be together…”

“Please” he insisted “Nurse Joy tells me everyday how low the chance of you waking up is, but I don’t care, you beat the odds so many times before, I just ask you for that, one more time… Please”

“The last thing I want to see” he said, swallowing hard “It’s your name written on a tombstone, I hate to admit it, but I dream about that a lot, too…”

He denied with his head, he couldn’t say those things in front of Ash, so he quickly changed the topic; he touched his boyfriend’s face with the fabric of his t-shirt and commented:

“I noticed that night when you took my t-shirt to smell it, you know? And I'm quite sure it wasn’t only one night”

“Pika?” Pikachu questioned

“Yes, really… And I did the same… I always loved your fragrance, Ash, I loved… I still love, everything about you”

“I love when you make me blush” he continued “When you kiss my cheeks, when you tell me about your past… I need you to keep telling me those things, I need you to come back, to not be absent from my life anymore…”

“I need this routine to stop, I need to stop coming here to check you up, I’m going to do it until you wake up, but I really need it to stop, every time Koharu, or Sakuragi ask me what I’m doing today, I always say, ‘I’m going to see Ash’. I want to say something else, for once”

“I want to say, Ash and I will go to explore a cavern, to swim at the beach, to kiss at the top of a lighthouse, to do… all sorts of stuff with you”

“I need to stop dreaming about the future, and I need to stop living it, with you by my side”

“I want to feel your soft, warm lips against mine once again, I want you to take care of me, to mend my broken heart, to heal my wounds and pains like you’ve done so many times already…”

“Your body is so still right now, even your sweet spots don’t feel sweet anymore. Your nose doesn’t twitch when I kiss it; your arms stay limp at your sides, your neck is frozen… It’s like you don’t want me around anymore”

“Pika! Pikapi!” Pikachu interrupted him

“You’re right buddy; I’m being gloomy again…”

Gou hugged Pikachu and closed his eyes, trying once again to cheer up

“I know once you wake up you’ll be pretty tired and you’ll have lost a lot of your natural strength, but I really want you to carry me around the institute, the bedroom, the park, like you used to do in the past. I’m longing to feel your arms wrapped around my body again, protecting me, shielding me from any danger…”

“I really want to see you trying your best to understand how to be romantic, having those little lovely gestures that are so… yours. Sharing our little secret dates on the Institute once again. I really want to know if you want that too”

Gou squeezed Ash’s hand under the covers and looked at his face, hope returning to his heart for a moment.

“You want that too, right Ash?”

The trainer didn’t move a muscle

“We need to go back to spend the nights kissing and cuddling, don’t you think? Annoying Pikachu, Cinderace and even Koharu with our loud noises”

“Pika!” the Pokemon agreed, also remembering those times

“I want to have more pictures with you, this time we spent apart from each other, all these weeks with you not waking up, now I’m afraid I don’t have enough memories with you… I want to build new ones with you, to capture even more moments close to you…”

Ash didn’t reply, but Gou insisted

“We have to explore the whole world again, ok? Except for the caves, I don’t want any more caves, no more darkness, no more cold, please…”

“Or maybe, maybe we could return to a cave sometimes, but only if you promise to hug me, so I don’t feel cold… I would face any storm, any peril, if that guarantees me that your arms will be waiting for me at the finishing line. I miss your strong, firm arms… I miss your hugs so much…”

“I miss your praising every time I explain how a computer works, or how I’m working on a really complicated code, I miss you telling me how smart I am, how cute I look when I give you an explanation…”

“I need you closer, now more than ever, Ash… I need you to wake up so you can care for me, love me, kiss me, like you used to do, I need your reassurance, I need to hear you telling me there’s nothing wrong with being in love with you, because you love me too…”

“I need your goofiness back in my life; I need to see you pretending to know how to dance, only to embarrass yourself on the dance floor, dragging me with your charm and your stupid antics. I need that dumb smile of you back…”

“You said to me once that there was nothing to fear… Come back and say it again, I beg you, from the bottom of my heart Ash… Chase my fears away, only you know how to do it”

Ash didn’t respond and Gou burst into tears once again

“I’ve been meaning to ask Gengar or Mismagius if they can try to possess you, to see if they can find some clue in your mind about when or how to wake you up… But it feels so wrong, I trust, I believe you can wake up on your own”

“But I’m also afraid… So afraid, this whole thing is my fault, and I’m scared that once you wake up you blame me for what happened. I mean, how could you not?”

The Vermillion City teenager closed his eyes and remembered that tragic morning again. That wild Bastiodon in the middle of the field, that excitement he felt when he gripped his Pokeball, ready to throw it at the creature.

“Try to weaken it first, he looks very powerful” Ash whispered behind him

Gou didn’t listen, of course he didn’t, and that was his mistake. He throw the Pokeball at the creature and the object didn’t even shake once, Bastiodon broke free, and before he could throw another one, the Shield Pokemon charged full speed against him.

The boy had barely one second to protect himself, until he felt Ash pushing him away; he received the impact instead, falling to the ground, unconscious.

He never woke up again.

Gou shook his head, he was going to wake up, he had to, the teen focused on his boyfriend’s features and whispered.

“I’ve been thinking about something else, since the moment I met you, I never sang to you, so I thought maybe, if I did something different for you, then you’d do something different for me, like waking up instead of keep dreaming…”

“I heard this song yesterday, you know? I don’t even know where I heard it; it was like it just popped up into my head…”

“But I want you to hear it, Ash…”

_You had to kill the conversation  
You always had the upper hand  
Got caught in love and stepped in sinking sand  
You had to go and ruin all our plans_

Why did he have to protect him? Why did he have to jump in front of that Bastiodon, almost ending his existence? Why did he love him so much to risk his life in such a way?

_  
Packed your bags and you're leaving home  
Got a one-way ticket and you're all set to go  
But we have one more day together, so_

There was still hope, right?

He had to believe his significant other could pull through this; he would wake up, emerging victorious from yet another battle, completing a near-impossible challenge once again….

_Love me like there's no tomorrow  
Hold me in your arms, tell me you mean it  
This is our last goodbye and very soon it will be over  
But today just love me like there's no tomorrow_

It could be over any moment now. It could end in just a second, and all he would have to hold onto would be the experience he shared with the love of his life.

But nothing else, nothing at all…

_I guess we drift alone in separate ways  
I don't have all that far to go  
God knows I learnt to play the lonely man  
I've never felt so low in all my life_  
  


How could he not feel that way? So powerless, so useless, so unable to prevent a fate that seemed inevitable with each passing day?

_We were born to be just losers  
So I guess there's a limit on how far we go  
But we only have one more day together so_

Ash lost so many battles, so many chances to become a Champion, with more achievements…

Gou lost so many catches, so many chances to become a better person, with more friends…

They were made for each other; they couldn’t lose each other, not now, not like this…

_Love me like there's no tomorrow  
Hold me in your arms, tell me you mean it  
This is our last goodbye and very soon it will be over  
But today just love me like there's no tomorrow_

“Please…” The boy hesitated to say a word he almost never said, but at this point, he didn’t care

“Please….” He repeated “Wake up, my love, please…”

_Tomorrow god knows just where I'll be  
Tomorrow who knows just what's in store for me  
Anything can happen but we only have one more day together, yeah  
Just one more day forever, so_

He hoped it would be more than just one day, but if this was all they had left, then he would stay at that hospital room, right until the very end…

_Love me like there's no tomorrow  
Hold me in your arms, tell me you mean it  
This is our last goodbye and very soon it will be over  
But today just love me like there's no tomorrow_

Once the song was over, Gou looked at Ash.

There was no change…

But a second later, something did change, an alarm started to blare in the room.

“Ash?” the teenager asked

He took a look at the monitor, the green line that indicated Ash’s vitals was spiking, he rushed outside and shouted:

“Nurse! Nurse Joy!”

He looked back at the monitor. A flat green line confirmed the worst suspicion…

“Ash!” he shouted into the void

Maybe it was too late…

“Ash!”

Maybe he didn’t deserve a happy ending

“Ash!”

Maybe he had to carry the guilt of killing the love of his life for the rest of his days…

“Ash!”

“Gou!”

The Vermillion City teen opened his eyes, only to find the face of Ash Ketchum looking at him, tears running down his face.

“You’re awake…” he whispered

Gou looked at himself; he was the one lying in bed, with the vial connected to his arm, with his body hurting and weak.

Oh.

He suddenly remembered.

He was the one who took Bastiodon’s hit.

Looking around, he noticed Pikachu and Cinderace sleeping in the bed right next to him, surrounded by Ash’s clothes.

Staring at his boyfriend, he noticed the bags under his eyes, his unkempt hair, and his terrible smell.

“It’s been two months” he simply said

“You waited for me… for two months?” Gou whispered

Ash nodded and his boyfriend threw at his arms

“Were you singing?” Gou questioned, realizing Cinderace and Pikachu were awake, quickly jumping to his bed to greet him back

“Did you hear me?” Ash countered

For all response, Gou muttered

_“Love me like there’s no tomorrow…”_

Ash hugged him and completed:

_“Hold me in your arms, tell me you mean it…”_

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Bows down*  
> Again, a million thanks to every single one of you.  
> I'll see you in a few days, for a new edition of 30 days!  
> And here's the challenge for you, readers:  
> TAKING IDEAS! Any idea, of any kind, throw it down here, and let's have another 30 days of awesome Jouneyshipping adventures!  
> See you around!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my sister (who's just as crazy as me) for the challenge  
> This will be an everyday thing, but don't worry, I'll keep writing my usual +2k one.shots every once in a while  
> See you tomorrow everyone!


End file.
